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The Modern Conflict 
Over The 



in 



Synthesis and Comparison 



BY 

rev. g. w. Mcpherson 

YONKERS, N.Y. 



THE new theology apostasy is the substitute 
religion which the highbrows in Germany adopted 
to replace Christianity, and is the cause of the war. 
To save America and the world we must tear down 
and cast out from our colleges, seminaries and churches 
this apostasy, which is costing us the blood of our 
loved sons, and billions of dollars. An inspired 
Bible and Christianity are the foundation of our 
civilization. In Union Seminary, New York, Chicago 
University, and similar institutions this false theology 
is taught. This apostasy repudiates the great doctrines 
of Christianity, as the Inspiration of the Bible, the 
Incarnation, Atonement, Resurrection, and Second 
Coming of Christ in bodily form, and is causing hatred 
and strife everywhere. These momentous questions 
are discussed in this series. 



THE five books in this series are strongly 
recommended by Rev. James M. Gray, D.D., 
(Moody Bible Institute, Chicago), Rev. R. A. 
Torrey, D.D. (Bible Institute, Los Angeles), Rev. 
David James Burrell, D.D., (New York City), Mr. 
Wm. Phillips Hall, (New York City), Rev. I. M. 
Haldeman, D.D., (New York City), and thousands 
of laymen throughout the nation. 

Dr. Haldeman says of these messages: 

"Dear Mr. McPherson, I have read the manu- 
script of your new books with interest, profit and 
real joy It is a cause of thanks- 
giving and praise to God for such a message as 
yours. There is nothing in which the new theology 
men are so strong as in their ignorance of what the 
Bible teaches. What they lack in spiritual, sane and 
scientific exegesis, they make up in reinforcement 
from philosophy and the inherent unbelief of the 
natural man. I do rejoice that you have written 
your books and pray they may have the widest 
circulation." 



The Modern Conflict 
Over The Bible 



m 



Synthesis and Comparison 

BY 

rev. g. w. Mcpherson 

YONKERS, N. Y. 



This book is dedicated to the Deity of Jesus 
Christ and the Inspiration of the Bible, which 
dedication was graciously suggested by my es- 
teemed friend, Mr. F. T. Hopkins of New York. 



COPYRIGHT 1918 



PRICE 50 CENTS 
Postage Prepaid 



x(\ 






\ I \ 



TO THE READER 

If you believe that this book should 
have a wide reading, you are invited 
to furnish names to whom you would 
like to have it sent, and a gift to cover 
the cost. This will help the author to 
donate the book in a more general 
way, and have larger numbers printed 
for circulation. The author has do- 
nated his time and labor in order 
to furnish this message free to the 
students in all our higher institutions 
of learning in America. Lots of twenty- 
five or more may be had at reduced 
prices. 



MAR -4 1918 
DCLA492651 



THIS volume is made up of the four 
little books in the series as announced at 
latter part of book, and consists of an 
outline study in synthesis and comparison, of 
the new and the old theologies. It is hoped 
that this book will prove to be a valuable aid 
as reference or text book for Bible classes in 
colleges, churches and elsewhere. Of the 
20,000 copies already sold of Nos. 1 and 2 in 
the series, which make up part of this volume, 
good has resulted, in directing young men and 
women as to the kind of educational institu- 
tions to attend; while on the other hand it 
has been used to cause a number of students to 
withdraw from certain theological seminaries. 
The publication is the result of a hearty vote 
by the Tent Evangel Congregation in New 
York, of 3,000 persons, where these messages 
were first delivered as a series of lectures. 



CONTENTS. 

Book No. 1 : The New Theology Under Fire. 

Chapter 1 : The Conflict. 

" 2: Contributing Causes. 

3: New Theology Labelled. 
4: The Remedy. 

Book No. 2 : Can God Inspire a Book, or Does 
He Inspire Only Men? 

Chapter 1: General Statements. 

" 2: Evidence from Experience. 
" 3: Scientific Evidence. 
" 4: Internal Evidence. 

Book No. 3 : New and Old Theology and The 
Cross. 

Chapter 1 : New Theology Claim. 
2: Old Theology Claim. 
" 3: Principle Objections. 
4: Back at The Cross. 

Book No. 4: New and Old Theology and 
Things To Come. 

Chapter 1 : General Approach to Eschatology. 
2: The Second Coming of Christ. 
" 3: The Holy Spirit and the Second Com- 
ing. 
" 4: The Resurrection. 
5: The Judgment. 
6: Message of the Apostolic Church. 




rev. g. w. Mcpherson 



FOREWORD 



Momentous Questions Discussed 



THE hour has surely come when men and women 
who believe the Bible to be the Word of God 
should come into the open and courageously, 
earnestly, and in the spirit of love, line up against the 
new theology apostasy — a something with no theology 
in it. This volume tells plainly what it is. It is the 
enemy of Jesus Christ. It is the father of the present 
war. It is a rehash of Unitarianism, a revival of in- 
fidelity, augmented by the German atheistic philoso- 
phies of evolution and pantheism, abetted by the de- 
structive higher criticism of the Bible — in short the 
new theology is hell turned loose on earth in the name 
of scholarship, and under the guise of religion, and now 
in the awful panoply of war. It is a cunning, lying, 
church-destroying, Christ-denying monster. It wears 
the smile of an angel but has the heart of a murderer. 
Its mission is to destroy the faith of men in the Bible 
as the Word of God, and in Jesus Christ as the Incarnate 
Son of God. With its pretense of piety, its angel smile 
and satanic heart, it has succeeded in deceiving many. 
Today clergymen, churches and institutions of learning 
are among its victims. Many of the Congregational 
churches in America are among its slain; and Baptist, 
Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopalean, and even Roman 
Catholic churches are feeling the satanic pull of the new 
theology apostasy. It is winning to its support some 
in high places and low, some rich and poor, learned 



10 FOREWORD 

and unlearned. Judging by recent public utterances on 
the part of some prominent laymen, it would appear 
that church officers, who are members of some and of 
our largest financial institutions, have become inoculated 
with the virus of the new theology apostasy. We have 
no desire to be personal and call these men by name, 
and place upon them the blame for their departure 
from the evangelical doctrines (we would place the 
blame upon those who stand in Christian pulpits and 
whose false teaching are the direct cause of the laity's 
departure. Another cause of the departure on the part 
of some of our rich laymen is due to the fact that they 
have unwisely permitted themselves to be influenced by 
the current skeptical literature of the twentieth century, 
and ideas from various sources that are not in harmony 
with the Word of God. Even this splendid institution, 
the Y. M. C. A., has permitted itself to be influenced by 
the same spirit of a materialistic age, and thus have 
weakened its evangelical appeal. To not a few earnest 
spirits in all the churches all this is doubtless cause for 
concern. We want the Y. M. C. A. as we want all our 
thoughtful laymen, to remain loyal and true to the grand 
old Book, to that which is the highest and best, and 
which cannot fail, to that which is the foundation of our 
nation and must remain the hope of the world. Of course 
we should not be overconcerned at the above departure. 
We are so prone to get man's point of view and not 
God's point of view, and magnify a mole hill into a moun- 
tain. We should not be over anxious as to loosing or 
winning to church membership any individual simply 
because he or she may be rich. We should not permit 
the dollar to be king on Manhattan or elsewhere. We 
should value men not by their wealth but by their char- 
acter. But alas in America we find life unbalanced. We 



FOREWORD 11 

have been so busy guilding the framework that we have 
forgotten to look at the picture. Money not God has 
become the touch-stone of our thoughts and the load- 
stone of our ambitions. We are so apt to forget how 
easily God could get along without any of us. Perhaps 
we forget that Christianity was not born in Wall Street 
nor in a palace, but in a Manger, and that at the advent 
of the Son of Mary heaven hung out a star in his honor, 
and the angel choir chanted a new song. We forget 
that when God wanted to introduce a new civilization 
he did not put his hand on a Rothschild, though God 
has many of his kings and queens among the rich, but 
on the slave-child Moses — earth's greatest lawgiver — 
and on the carpenter Jesus — earth's only Saviour — and 
on the miner Luther — earth's greatest reformer. We 
forget God's great plan, that it is by the Cross and its 
sacrificial Saviour that the world has been enlightened, 
and will yet be saved, that millenniums after our pres- 
ent boasted civilization, with its pomp and glitter will 
have perished, God's choirs will be singing, "Unto him 
who loved us and freed us from our sins in his own 
blood ... to him be ascribed glory and dominion 
forever" (Rev. 1: 5-6). Let us not forget these things, 
and remember that at the appearing of our Lord and 
his kingdom those who stood for him in the days of 
his rejection will then shine as the sun and as the stars 
for ever and ever. 

One of our problems is to awaken the churches to 
see the real danger confronting them. The orthodox 
forces are asleep at the switch. We are cowards, crouch- 
ing to the German apostacy. If the old heroes should 
return they could hardly recognize the Church today. 
A pioneer preacher was booked to preach where President 
Andrew Jackson was stopping over night, and the latter 



12 FOREWORD 

found himself in a pew of the church. The deacons 
held a hurried consultation and calling the preacher from 
the pulpit informed him of the presence of the President, 
and requested him to be guarded in his remarks. Before 
beginning his message the preacher said: "I understand 
Andrew Jackson is with us and I have been requested 
to be guarded in my remarks. Andrew Jackson will go 
to Hell as quick as any other man if he does not repent." 
At the conclusion Jackson stepped forward and said: 
"Sir, if I had a regiment of men like you I could whip 
the world." This is the courage needed. 

Let us not lose our heads over the power of wealth. 
Money is the lowest, the weakest, the poorest of all 
power; and only as it is used in channels of God's ap- 
proval can it be a blessing and not a curse. There is no 
power but God. If the churches should loose the 
world's richest men God could give us some John the 
Baptists to take their places and a great revival of true 
religion. If this were God's pleasure then we should 
gladly say, good-bye, brothers, we welcome the ex- 
change and we are willing to throw in some new 
theology institutions "to boote." If we bow down to 
materialism it is because we have forgotten God. If 
we fawn and cringe at the feet of money power, then 
God will send upon us the days of the locust. A rich 
man pledged $100,000 to Foreign Missions; but when 
he saw that the Board was going to send out young men 
fresh from the seminary who denied the Virgin Birth 
and the Atonement he quickly withdrew his gift. Thank 
God all our rich men have not forsaken the grand old 
doctrines of Christianity. 

WHY WAS THIS BOOK WRITTEN? 

These messages were born in much travail of spirit. 
They have been given as result of the writer's study of 



FOREWORD 13 

the new theology and the impressions made on him by 
students in new theology institutions regarding the deity 
of Christ and the inspiration of the Bible. Prominent 
among these institutions is Union Seminary in New 
York, though doubtless good men are there. We have 
no desire to be personal only in so far as we deem it 
necessary to make concrete the problem before the 
churches today. For fifteen years, while serving as 
Superintendent of Tent Evangel in New York, not a few 
of the students in Union Seminary informed the writer of 
their departure from the evangelical doctrines. In each 
case it was noticed that these young men were unsettled 
in their beliefs; they were desirous of asking ques- 
tions, and combatting the generally accepted doctrines 
of our evangelical churches; they all revealed the same 
uncertainty, if not religious bewilderment — the absence 
of a positive, cheering, joyous faith. I failed to see that 
to any of these splendid young men, Jesus Christ was 
the unique incarnate Son of God, very God of very God, 
separate in essence from man, the world's Sin-bearer, 
Redeemer, Saviour, Lord, and Final Authority in all 
matters of Christian faith and practice. They could not 
honestly say: 

"My hope is built on nothing less, 
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness." 

The religion of these students and of others in insti- 
tutions where the new theology is taught, all seemed 
to be of a similar type, to wit: it was built on science, 
rationalistic philosophies, and ethical principles, and 
possessed no enthusiasm, no passionate love for Jesus 
Christ, and for the souls of men. 

For fifteen summers this had been my experience over 
and over again as I got close to many of these young 
men. For a long time I hesitated to speak out against 



14 FOREWORD 

new theology institutions like Union Seminary. I de- 
sire to "live at peace with all men," and especially desired 
the good will of the good. I well knew that an open 
exposure of Union and similar new theology schools 
would create antagonism to our Tent Evangel campaigns, 
and to the writer personally, by men who could use their 
financial power to assist in their unchristian behavior. 
I was aware of the spirit and practice of boycott on the 
part of certain financial powers in New York, and that 
these powers are supporters of Union Seminary, and that 
they would boycott our great soul-winning work as they 
did. For years the writer prayed for guidance as he 
thought over this problem. The fact is, he was like 
many others today, a bit of a coward. Finally, however, 
when convalescing from an operation in the Roosevelt 
Hospital, and thinking of the tragedy we are witnessing, 
in seeing our young men go forth to lead the churches 
away and astray from evangelical religion, the writer 
solemnly vowed before God that he would no longer be 
a coward but if spared, would henceforth do his part 
in the Tent Evangel and elsewhere, to make clear to 
the churches and universities and seminaries the real 
danger which confronts America by the German invasion 
of our Christian Faith by her apostate theology. 



THIS BOOK IS THE FULFILMENT OF THAT VOW 

We should fear for the sake of the Church, the Ger- 
man invasion of American institutions by the new 
theology apostacy more than the invasion of America 
by a German army, terrible as the latter would be, for 
the former would, in its consequences, be far more serious, 
more far-reaching. To undermine our Christian civiliza- 



FOREWORD 15 

tion in America by the new theology apostacy would put 
us back to where Germany is today, in religion and 
ethics. It is this rationalistic theology that has cursed 
and ruined Germany, and unless we defeat it here it will 
curse and ruin America. America has not yet become 
aware of the fact that it is this new religious apostacy 
that our soldier boys are fighting in France, in the form 
of gas, guns, liquid fire, bombs, shells, and all the frenzy 
and hatred of Hell. America has not yet awakened to 
the fact that the billions of money we are giving, and 
the precious blood we are spilling are the result of the 
moral and religious degradation which the new theol- 
ogy apostasy had brought upon Germany. The papers 
recently quoted Mr. Rockefeller as saying that he had 
given toward the expenses of the war, including his pur- 
chase of Liberty Bonds, the sum of $70,000,000, but he is 
not aware that he is pouring out his wealth to defeat the 
German new theology as seen in its harvest of pain and 
death. Probably if he knew this a revolution would 
take place in Chicago University, and influences would 
be set afoot, as they ought to be, to wipe out this apostasy 
from our institutions, root and branch. The new theol- 
ogy is as great a curse in our churches and institutions 
as would be the most radical socialism. If the Rocke- 
fellers only knew these things they would be the most 
pronounced old theology advocates in America, they 
would defend the theology that has made America great, 
and that is the only hope of the world. 

Just prior to the war, in 1914, a reputable American 
journal made a census of those who, on a fine Sunday, 
attended religious services in Berlin, and it was found 
that in this Protestant city only 26,000 persons were 
gathered in places of public worship. Berlin, a great 
Protestant city of 2,800,000 souls, but with a powerless, 



16 FOREWORD 

Christless Church. The explanation? We need hardly 
state that this was the fruit of five decades of teaching 
and preaching of the new theology of rationalism, evolu- 
tion, and the radical criticism of the Bible. As Rev. 
Isaac J. Lansing, D.D., said in his able address before 
the Rotary Club in New York in 1917: "The German 
philosophies repudiate humanity, despise morals, and 
deliberately gave itself to the most violent attack 
upon Christianity! The attack upon Christianity 
was deliberately made about 100 years ago, but 
half a century later, when Strauss assailed the Gospel and 
the life of Christ as mythical, the great apostacy began 
in earnest, and became widespread, intense, and more 
sweepingly antagonistic." And Dr= Lansing added: 
"Many of these new theology apostates in Germany de- 
clared that the greatest mistake Germany ever made was 
in accepting Christianity from the Roman Empire." 
These were the founders of the modern new theology 
which Union Seminary, Chicago University, Harvard, 
and Yale, and other institutions of lesser note in America 
more or less adopted. The new theology, advocated in 
Germany, rejected Christianity, and adopted a religion of 
their own, and named it, "The Religion of Valor." One 
of its mottos is, "To Live Dangerously." It is the re- 
ligion of militarism. It is as we have said, the religion we 
are pouring out our wealth and our blood to defeat in the 
lurid flames of Hell which it has created in Europe. 
America is slowly but surely waking up to the fact that 
it is the new theology that has deluged our poor world 
in blood. 

And here in America the new theology serpent is 
gradually, stealthily, coiling his slimy form around our 
Christian life. Already we can see the spirit of hate 
in those in the ministry and laity who have adopted 



FOREWORD 17 

the apostacy. We see them withdrawing to themselves in 
little coteries in every center of population, and planning 
how they may oppose the old theology, the Gospel of 
Christ, and enslave American Christians in this curse of 
the anti-Christ. They are cunning in their propaganda, 
they cover up their real purposes by a pretended interest 
in humanity, and by assuming to themselves a monopoly 
on scholarship, declaring that the new theology is the re- 
sult of the latest and soundest thinking. With these men 
it is not what the Bible plainly states, but rather what 
Dr. So and So, and Professor So and So, and Rabbi So 
and So said. But we have observed that wherever the 
new theology is taught, inspirational thinking and preach- 
ing pass away, and the glow, the warmth and comfort of 
evangelical Christianity languish and die. This theology 
could never produce a Judson or a Moody. When 
it gives to the world a Spurgeon, or a great 
evangelist, then we shall be compelled to sit up and take 
notice. As a soul-winning and converting system it is 
absolutely as helpless as infidelity itself. A witty 
preacher once stated that he recommended Rev. So and 
So to the office of chaplain of Sing Sing Prison, because 
he said the gentleman had a faculty for emptying every 
church where he preached, and he thought he might suc- 
ceed in emptying Sing Sing. Well one thing of which 
we are certain is that the new theology is emptying our 
Theological Seminaries, while the old theology is filling 
our Bible Training Schools. We can discuss until doom's 
day the problem of the seminary.. Here is our great 
problem to get rid of every new theology teacher, then 
advertize that fact to the world, and see if a new day will 
not dawn for our seminaries. I would wager $50,000 
were I inclined and able, that if Colgate, or Rochester, 
or Harvard, or Crozer, or Union, or Drew, or any other 



18 FOREWORD 

seminary in which the new theology is taught would give 
the writer the sole management of their affairs for five 
years, he would fill up every one of these institutions with 
splendid Christian young men. But this day of glad revi- 
val would be preceded by some theological funerals. We 
have the corpses already and he would see that they were 
quickly buried. 

Americans, I appeal to you, as you love your life, your 
children, your country, humanity, God, arise like true 
men and drive from your schools of learning and from 
your pulpits the new German theology. Pull it down 
and throw it out. It is a vile, lying intruder. It should 
have no place in our Christian institutions. It will de- 
stroy our Bible, it will bring untold division, sorrow and 
strife to our churches, it will ridicule the ordinances of 
Christ, it will destroy our seminaries, it will blight and 
damn the world. It is the work of Satan. Cast it out ! If 
they prophesy to us smooth words, believe them not. If 
they prate to us about church union, listen not to them. 
We believe in church union, and pray that God may bring 
it to pass on the basis of his naked word. If the churches 
will take the New Testament and agree on that we shall 
then have church union. And this is the only possible 
basis. We love union, we want to get close to all 
who know Jesus Christ as a personal Saviour. But it 
will not be brought about by those who want a Church 
Trust as a political weapon for the defeat of socialism; 
it will, if ever, be brought about by the old theology, by 
those who love God and his word. In the good old 
theology of Paul are all the elements of fellowship and 
love. In every spiritual undertaking the new theology 
is a failure. It's cheap re-hash of decadent Unitarianism, 
and its dependence upon science and philosophy, can 
never solve the world's problems. It has no life, no 



FOREWORD 19 

blood, no warm pulse, no palpitating loving heart. 
Come on then children of America, and let us strike 
with God for the freedom of our institutions and the 
souls of men. America must arise, young, strong, virile 
America, and crush the new German theology serpent. 
The national welfare demands it. The Lord of Life de- 
mands it. Remember our boys are fighting it in the 
awful trenches in France. While they are fighting it in 
France, let us, like true men and women, fight it at 
home. Great God! give us all the courage to enlist at 
home and "go over the top here and do our bit," And 
never let us cease the fight until we shall have driven the 
apostate theology back to Hell. 

The Author. 



BOOK NO. 1 



The New Theology Under Fire 



"Ye should earnestly fight for the Faith," Jude, verse 3. 

Chapter I 
THE CONFLICT 

This splendid note from Jude is a good starting point 
in our discussion as it suggests the character of this 
message, on The Modern Conflict Over the Bible, or 
The New Theology Under Fire. This Christian declara- 
tion is in itself a battle cry, a call to arms in the holy 
warfare against all that is in opposition to the Faith. 

We are living in a time when an array of insidious 
falsehoods has been launched against the Bible, and these 
ingenious misrepresentations are masquerading around 
under the guise of scholarship and in the name of re- 
ligion, and may be known by what is called in some 
quarters, the new theology. And it is to combat, to 
expose this new theology that God is calling his people 
everywhere these days. 

Of course we have no fear as to the future of the 
Bible — Truth can defend itself. When Deity ceases to 
exist then the Bible will perish. But we are concerned, 
for the sake of the Church of God, because of the in- 
sidious attacks on the integrity of the Bible. 
2 



22 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

That there is a conflict today over the Bible, few would 
dare deny. It is not a conflict over science, for true 
science is the handmaid of religion. It is not a conflict 
over philosophy when philosophy knows its place and 
keeps within its proper bounds. But it is a conflict 
over the Bible — its interpretation, history, inspiration, 
miracles, doctrines, authority. 

In the Bible certain claims are made as to creation, 
Christ, redemption, salvation, etc., all of which the new 
theology denies. The Bible is practically rejected by 
this school as the one great authority in the Christian 
religion. Many of the advocates of the new theology 
deny that which the Church has always believed to be 
fundamental in the Christian Faith. New theology 
teachers have accepted the philosophy of evolution and 
rationalism as their working hypotheses, as the prin- 
ciples by which they interpret all life, though oft-times 
in contradistinction to the claims and authority of the 
Bible. The new theology is assailing the inspiration of 
of the Bible and the deity of Christ. The attack is made 
in some of our institutions of learning both secular and 
sacred, and in not a few of the pulpits of so-called ortho- 
dox churches, with the result that the faith of many is 
being shipwrecked. If the world is to be Christianized 
it must be done by Evangelical Christians, and with an 
inspired Bible, and under the leadership of Christ. 

In the light of these facts it would appear that the 
call is loud today to enlist in this warfare against the 
apostacy of the new theology. We should not fear a 
righteous struggle. Christianity was born in conflict 
and by conflict only can it triumph. We have no sym- 
pathy with those who would pursue a policy of silence 
and non-interference with the propaganda of the new 
theology apostasy — all such are cowards and unworthy 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 23 

the name of Christian. Next to peace we should like 
nothing better than a holy fight for God and His truth. 
The man who would not fight for righteousness should 
merit the contempt of all good men. God has called us 
to warfare, and we ask, Have we heard the call? Have 
we enlisted? Do our friends know where we stand? 
Have we entered the fight for the Bible — the word of 
God— for Jesus Christ— the Son of God— for evangelical 
Christianity, the truth by which God intends to bring 
the world back to himself? 

The great question before us today is, what are the 
rank and file, the great mass of the Christian people, 
going to do with the Bible? Shall we believe, for ex- 
ample, the modern evolutionists or the writers of the 
Bible? Shall we believe Spencer and Haeckel, or Moses, 
Christ and Paul? These are the questions that are now 
prominently before the churches for decision. These ques- 
tions are insistent, they will not be silenced, they call 
for an answer, we cannot dodge them, the fight is on. 



24 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

Chapter II 
CONTRIBUTING CAUSES 

Before presenting the cause of our present conflict, 
those which have produced the new theology, we should 
first state just what we mean by the term theology. 

Theology is a science, a collaborated system of re- 
ligious thought, setting forth that which men think about 
such subjects as God, man, sin, Christ, salvation, etc. 
The term theology, therefore, may be defined as the 
science of religion. But there is a true and false theol- 
ogy. The true is built on the teachings of the Bible; 
the false on philosophy, speculation, and independently 
of the Bible — using the Bible, not as the one great 
authority, but in an accommodating sense. This latter 
is the new, the former the old theology. 

It is important that we have a true Christian theology, 
that is, a science of religion that is built upon the Chris- 
tian revelation, for much depends on the views men enter- 
tain regarding the great themes which make up the sub- 
ject matter of theology. For example, to hold false views 
about Christ is to be lost, but to hold correct views as 
to his person and work is to be saved (1st Cor. 15: 1-3; 
John 3: 14-18). We cannot afford to say: "But that 
is only his theology, ,, for "as a man thinketh in his 
heart so is he" (Prov. 23: 7). Christianity has always 
flourished under the preaching of a robust theology. 
When men are not sufficiently interested in Christianity 
to build a Christian theology, then Christianity must 
languish, if not perish. It is true that theology is not 
Christianity; yet it is so closely, so vitally related to 
Christianity, that the latter is largely dependent upon it 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 25 

for its expression and propagation. Christianity is the 
soul, theology is the body by which it is expressed ; and 
the soul calls for a sound, healthy, robust body, or 
theology, that which truly sets forth the nature and 
doctrine of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. 

But another word here about the new theology. We 
have said that this theology is not built on the Bible, 
but on philosophy, ethics, speculation, using the Bible 
only in an accommodating sense. That being the case 
how shall we define the term, new theology? It is 
difficult to define this term because the new theology 
is the result of a certain mental attitude toward the 
Bible, in which the Bible is viewed not as the one 
great authority in the Christian religion, but as of 
secondary value. We would therefore submit the fol- 
lowing as a fairly accurate definition of the new theology : 
The new theology is a false science of religion, that is 
built on philosophy, ethics, speculation, that exalts 
human reason above revelation and faith, hence makes 
man himself and not the Bible the basis of authority 
in the Christian religion. 

With this definition in mind we are now ready to 
advance and see what it is that has led some of our 
scholars to adopt this attitude toward the Bible. It 
can be readily seen, from the definition given, that it 
is a critical and not a submissive or reverent attitude 
which the speculative theologian has adopted toward the 
Bible. And this leads us to raise the question, What 
are the causes that have produced this critical attitude 
toward the Bible, and that have resulted in what we 
call the new theology. 

PRIDE. 

The first cause we would state is pride, pride of 
intellectual attainments, of learning, of scholarship, 



26 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

though we boldly affirm that the new theology has not a 
monopoly on scholarship. But it should not be forgotten 
that Christianity is a special revelation of God which no 
scholarship could ever discover. The fact is that the 
most unlearned often know as much about the mys- 
teries of God and his Kingdom as do the most learned. 
Scholarship cannot discover God, this great accomplish- 
ment is of the heart, the spirit, and not of the intellect. 
Knowledge of the sciences will not help here, but knowl- 
edge of Jesus Christ — the most excellent of all sciences 
— is indispensable. Ofttimes learning is a barrier to 
the highest knowledge — that is, a comprehension of the 
revelation of God in Christ — for the pride of intellect 
dislikes to stoop and admit its ignorance and helpless- 
ness in this realm, and become as a little child at the 
feet of Jesus — the thing which scholarship must ever do 
if it would enter and learn the mysteries of the king- 
dom of God. The pratings of the new theology school 
about the results of modern scholarship reveal an appall- 
ing ignorance of Christ, as if scholarship could ever be 
a password into His kingdom, or furnish a key to its 
mysteries. 

DEIFY MAN. 

The next cause we would mention is human nature, 
the natural, perverted, sinful nature of man, which nature 
is in opposition to God, not subject to His will, His laws, 
His love, and of which Paul declares "I know there is 
nothing good in me — I mean in my earthly nature" (Rom. 
7 : 18). Here then is the seed-germ from which has grown 
our modern problem over the Bible, and we might say the 
ever-present problem over the Bible. The new theology 
would deify that which the Bible commands us to crucify 
(Rom. 6: 6; Gal. 5: 24), and would present to the world 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 27 

a false diagnosis of man, a diagnosis that is contra- 
dicted by all the facts of experience. 

RATIONALISM. 

Another cause is found in what we call rationalism. 
By rationalism we mean reason as opposed to revelation, 
or the exaltation of reason above revelation. The ration- 
alist rejects the supernatural element in the Bible, and 
exalts reason, above faith. The rationalist subjects 
everything to the analysis of reason, and that which 
cannot be explained by reason is rejected in the religious 
domain as in every other realm. Rationalism says, the 
things which are seen and understood are eternal and are 
to be trusted, but the things which are not seen, which 
are apprehended only by faith may be superstition and 
are to be rejected. We cannot stop to show the ab- 
surdity, or the unreasonableness of this philosophy of 
reason. For instance, because the rationalist cannot ex- 
plain how sap circulates in a tree, in order to be true to 
his philosophy, he would have to reject this fact as 
superstition, something above reason, which reason can- 
not comprehend. Because the rationalist cannot explain 
the Supernatural and the miraculous element as recorded 
in the Bible he rejects these as unreasonable, hence un- 
trustworthy, untrue. 

EVOLUTION. 

Another contributory cause to our present-day conflict 
over the Bible is found in the philosophy of evolution. 
Again we must define. What is evolution, and how 
has this philosophy added to the conflict over the 
Bible? Here again we find it difficult to submit a 
satisfactory definition. Generally speaking, evolution 
is viewed by many as meaning anything evolved both 



28 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

in the realm of biology and metaphysics. Evolution is a 
philosophy which maintains that all life has been evolved 
from a simple or rudimentary form, from the homogene- 
ous to the heterogeneous, in a series of steps, by which a 
germ or a rudimentary part become an adult organism, or 
a fully developed part. It is seen that this philosophy is 
an effort to interpret or explain God's method in the 
development of all life, including the life of man. Evolu- 
tionists generally believe that the universe, as we see it, 
has been evolved from small beginnings; that man is 
a part of this ever-evolving order; that he too has come 
up from a germ, and passing on through lower forms of 
life has arrived at what he is today. We take no time 
to show that this is not a true philosophy, that it has 
never been proven, and that it is in conflict with the 
facts of science, with the book of Genesis, and the Bible 
generally. That there is an evolution in the moral life 
of man as result of his submission to the Spirit and 
word of God we would not deny ; but in the one endless 
round of nature we have birth, growth, decay, and death, 
and dissolution is as much a part of the order of nature 
as is evolution. 

DESTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. 

Again, a certain kind of destructive higher criticism 
of the Bible has also added much to our conflict. There 
is a legitimate, a proper, safe and sane higher criticism 
of the Bible. Criticism may be favorable or unfavorable; 
it may mean to find fault or to approve. By the term 
higher criticism we mean the application of the prin- 
ciples of literary interpretation to the literature of the 
Bible, as we would apply those principles to any other 
literature, with this exception, that we must take into 
account the spiritual element in the Bible. In this 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 29 

proper application we seek to discover the teaching, 
dates, and authorship of the various books of the Bible, 
by a close study of the times in which the books were 
written, and the historical circumstances that would 
naturally condition thought and expression. Now this 
sort of study of the Bible seems sensible and helpful, 
and in this respect every Sunday-school teacher ought 
to be a critical student of the Bible. 

But there is another kind of criticism which is called 
the destructive criticism of the Bible. This criticism 
has for its method the stating of certain hypotheses, 
which may be reasonable or unreasonable (usually they 
are most unreasonable) and from these they argue to 
certain conclusions. Let us give an example of some of 
these unreasonable hypotheses, to illustrate the destruc- 
tive method of this school. The critic supposes, 
that man has been evolved from a lower form 
of animal life, therefore, he must rule out the account of 
the creation of man as given in the Book of Genesis; 
or he believes that man existed longer on the earth 
than the Bible teaches, therefore, to make the Bible 
harmonize with that which the critic believes to be 
sources of correct information, he would say that Old 
Testament names as Adam, Cain, Abel, Enoch, Noah 
and others, were not real characters, not real men, but 
names of fictitious persons used to represent dynasties 
or heads of clans, each covering possibly thousands of 
years. Thus the destructive critic would harmonize the 
Bible with his notion of the age of man on this earth, 
by denying the plainest historical statements recorded 
in the Bible. You see it is anything, however absurd, 
to bolster up the critic's hypotheses, based on his theory 
of evolution, and his notion of the period of time man 
has lived on the earth. In no department of modern 



30 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

research has there been made more absurd guesses than 
in this sort of study of the Bible by the destructive 
higher critics. And some of these speculators are cooped 
up in not a few of our colleges and theological seminaries, 
with the result that many of the students have been led 
astray by adopting their false views of the Bible, by 
accepting the conclusions of this sort of mental hypoc- 
risy and jugglery over the naked facts of the Bible. And, 
out from these institutions, to our churches these stu- 
dents go to give to the Christian people the half-baked 
theories and guesses of the modern destructive critic. 
Do we wonder that we have now a conflict over the 
Bible? 

LAITY IN IGNORANCE. 

The vast bulk of the laymen in our churches are not 
yet quite aware of the fact that the causes stated above 
furnish us with a true explanation of our modern con- 
flict, and constitute the foundation of the new theology. 
That this is true, however, all well informed and candid 
minds will readily affirm. 

We are aware that there are those who would try 
to deny the foregoing facts, and show that the founda- 
tion of the new theology is not to be found in the rise of 
evolution, rationalism, the radical criticism of the Bible, 
and in the nature of man; but it is clear that all such 
view the Bible, not as the one great authority in the 
Christian religion, but rather as furnishing illustrations 
in history of the development or out-working of the 
principle of evolution in the moral or spiritual life of man. 
Where the Bible and evolution come in conflict, those 
parts of the Bible are brushed aside as irrelevant, or 
are viewed as legendary, or are given a false interpreta- 
tion. 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 31 

Chapter III 

THE NEW THEOLOGY LABELED 

We will now in part label the new theology, and note 
some of its characteristics, its varying points of view 
from those generally held by the vast bulk of Christians 
throughout the world, both Roman and Protestant. We 
want to mark this thing, to draw an accurate picture 
of it, so it will be known when heard or lectured about 
in the churches or elswhere, or when seen in the current 
literature of our day for the new theology has distinct 
features of which the Christian people should be in- 
formed. We have seen how it got here. Now how does 
it work ; what does it say and do ; does it produce a good 
harvest ; is it a blessing or a curse ; shall we retain it or 
reject it? It is on our hands; what are the churches 
going to do with it? The Methodists, and Baptists, and 
Presbyterians, and Episcopalians, and Congregationalists, 
and others must face this question and make up their 
minds regarding it. What shall we do with the teach- 
ings of the so-called liberal theologians? 

BIBLE CLAIMS REJECTED. 

The new theology is marked by its indifference to 
the claims of the Bible. It never says, with the writers 
of the Bible, "Thus saith the Lord," but it loves to 
dogmatically assert, thus says Emerson, Spencer, Dar- 
win, Haeckel, etc. It never predicates finality to any 
statement because that statement is found in the Scrip- 
tures. The new theology does not hesitate to say that 
Peter and Paul and other Bible characters may have 
been mistaken ; in fact that even Jesus Christ may have 



32 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

been mistaken; "that he accepted some, at least, of the 
opinions current in his own day relative to the Old 
Testament and the manner of his Second Coming. 
This theology tries to strip the Bible of its 
supernatural authority, to humanize it, rationalize it, 
to make it appear to be a purely human product and not 
a book of joint authorship — God being the controlling 
and directing factor in its production. In short, it treats 
the Bible as it does any other spiritual literature, pick- 
ing and choosing certain parts as being probably inspired 
— thus exalting fallible human reason above divine 
revelation. This theology has a way of weakening the 
force of the miraculous element in the Bible. Miracles 
are not necessary to stamp the book as of God; in fact, 
miracles to this school are rather an embarrassment. If 
miracles are granted as having occurred, their purpose 
is restricted to the human ministry aspect, and in nowise 
serve as a proof of the divine authority and character of 
Jesus and his mission. The new theology is not at all 
proud of the miracles. The story of the creation, the 
opening of the Red Sea, Jonah and the whale, the incar- 
nation, the resurrection and re-appearing of Jesus, many 
of the adherents of this school openly repudiate. The 
presence of a miracle, as the evolutionist views it, pre- 
supposes a God working contrary to or independently of 
the law of evolution, or of any natural law, and to grant 
this is a concession in opposition to the basic principle 
of the new theology; for to this school God does not 
thus work anywhere in his vast universe — in contra- 
distinction to the law of evolution. 

We are living in a time when many have shown a 
sort of insane passion to belittle the miracles and the 
Bible generally. They seem to love to parade before 
the people loud sounding scientific terms, and the marvels 






IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 33 

of modern scholarship, asserting that "scholarship is 
agreed," as if scholarship were ever agreed, and to exalt 
the wisdom and power of man and not the wisdom and 
power of God. 

But this school has been, recently, running up against 
some disagreeable snags, they have been uncomfortably 
jolted, for science has been making her contribution on 
the side of the Bible. The spade is bearing eloquent 
testimony to the historical accuracy of the Old Testa- 
ment, to that sacred history which the destructive critics 
long ago questioned. And, to make their case still 
more embarrassing, the common people are not falling 
over each other to embrace the teaching of the new 
theology. The more thoughtful of the Christian people 
are asking questions, studying their Bibles, examining 
the teachings of the liberal German school, with the 
result that the ablest laymen everywhere are declaring 
that the new theology message is a hollow, empty, worth- 
less thing; and that its speculations, hypotheses, and 
doubt engendering propaganda must be repudiated and 
defeated all along the line. 

EXALTATION OF MAN. 

Another mark of the new theology: It would deify 
human nature, and declare that man by nature is a true, 
pure child of God, needing only the proper education to 
fully develop his nature and make him fit for the king- 
dom of Heaven; consequently, the fact and need of re- 
generation are winked at. A sermon is seldom, if ever 
heard on this important requirement of God's word, 
or if heard, it is of such a character that it contains no 
positive affirmation as to the necessity for this funda- 
mental change or experience in man's life. Salvation 
to the new theology school is by education, and not by 



34 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

moral regeneration. This accounts for the fact that 
advocates of the new theology give their money not to 
world-wide evangelization, but to the colleges where 
reason is enthroned and Jesus Christ is often dethroned, 
and to those institutions nearer home of a semi-religious 
character, like the Y. M. C. A., that have not in them 
a pronounced evangelistic appeal. Churches which are 
controlled by men of this school eschew the warm- 
hearted, enthusiastic, evangelistic preacher, for such a 
messenger would be a constant irritant on the sensi- 
bilities of the new theology folks. 

ANTIPATHY TO EVANGELISM. 

Another feature is the positive antipathy of this 
school to everything that savors of evangelism. If the 
new theology advocates assist in a soul-winning cam- 
paign, it is not because they love the souls of men, but 
rather the motive is political and selfish in character, to 
win personal popularity, or to please some friends, and 
not because of their desire to seek and to save the lost. 
Slurs at consecrated evangelists are some of their most 
common stock in trade. Not being able to produce re- 
vivals of religion, the adherents of the new theology cover 
up their impotence in this regard by abusing or belittling 
the work of the God-appointed men who are used by the 
Holy Spirit to bring about revivals of religion. 

The new theology preachers cannot produce revivals 
of religion in their churches, and in this we find one 
of the strongest indictments against this theology. 
There is nothing in their criticisms, negations, ethical 
principles, their contempt for the inspired word of God, 
their lack of true humility, their air of assumed intel- 
lectual superiority and learned criticisms, that can pro- 
duce revivals of religion. The result of their message 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 35 

is the very antithesis to revivals of true religion. The 
new theology could not possibly produce or conduct a 
Tent Evangel campaign in New York. Their message 
would empty this great tabernacle, and produce spiritual 
paralysis here as it does in the churches where it is 
defended. 

The antipathy of this school to evangelism accounts for 
the fact that these men cannot win souls to Jesus Christ. 
Go to the church-prayer-service where the new theology 
is taught, and what do you find? Not their own con- 
verts engaged in testimony and prayer, for these men 
have no spiritual converts. The men and women who 
keep alive the prayer meetings are the converts of the 
old theology of the Cross ; and were it not for these there 
would be no prayer-services in those churches whose 
pastors are teachers of the new theology. Go also to 
the rescue missions and who are the men who are labor- 
ing there? Has any one ever found a drunkard redeemed 
as the result of the preaching of this false gospel? Why 
do redeemed drunkards always attribute their salvation 
from sin to the power of the blood of Christ? As well 
might an army endeavor to conquer Britain by using 
soft dirt for shells, as the new theology preacher try 
to win souls to Christ by denying redemption through 
the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ. Tell a lost sinner 
that he is saved by the cultivation of his character, 
and he is not too benighted to see through this colossal 
falsehood. Right well he knows that what he needs is 
not a eulogy on the divinity of his depravity, but a divine 
power to reach him and redeem him from sin. Here 
then is the unanswerable argument as to the value of 
the new and the old theology: the old can and does 
save, the new is powerless to save. 



36 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

SALVATION BY CHARACTER. 

And closely akin to this is another mark of the new 
theology, to wit, that man is saved by his own char- 
acter. In this we find a denial of the work of the Holy 
Spirit which he does in the lives of those who accept 
Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. These men do not 
believe that "Salvation is of the Lord," but by char- 
acter and good works. Jonah, however, believed it when 
he found himself at the "bottom of the mountains, 
and the earth with her bars about him" (Jonah 2:6), 
for then he cried and said, "Salvation is of the Lord" 
(2: 9). And let a new theology preacher get in a tight 
place like Jonah, where human help is unavailing, and 
he too will cry, "Salvation is of the Lord." David said 
that "a fire was kindled against Jacob, . . . because 
they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salva- 
tion" (Ps. 78: 21-22). Paul referred to those who 
preached salvation by character when he said: "For, in 
their ignorance of the divine righteousness, and in their 
eagerness to set up a righteousness of their own, they 
refused to accept with submission the divine righteous- 
ness (Rom. 10: 3). A refined Christian woman sent to 
the Tent Evangel service the following request for 
prayer: "Pray for our Assistant Pastor. He is preach- 
ing salvation by character. There is no Christ in his 
scheme of salvation. He is a graduate of Union Semin- 
ary in New York. He says the Bible is no authority 
for him." 

How could the Bible be authority for any man who 
preached salvation by character and not by grace? The 
Christian will be rewarded for his good works (Luke 6 : 
35), but he is saved by the grace of God through Christ 
(Rom. 4 : 4-5 ; 11 : 6 ; Eph. 1 : 7 ; 2 :5). If those who trust 
in their own righteousness could get a vision of the holi- 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 37 

ness of God, if they would quietly meditate for a short 
time on the character of their own thoughts, they would 
stop their ranting about salvation by character, and 
would say with Isaiah: "But we are all as an unclean 
thing, and all our righteousness is as filthy rags" (Isa. 
64: 6). Any theology that eulogizes sinful men and 
robs God of the work of saving and making men right- 
eous, is a colossal deception, but this is what the old 
Unitarianism, the so-called new theology is doing. 

NO REMEDY FOR SIN. 

Another mark of the new theology: It talks fluently 
about sin, denounces sin in the Church, in society, in 
the nation, it calls upon literature and experience to back 
up its indictment of sin, and yet, at the very moment 
and place, after it has shown the disease of sin, its hands 
fall limp, its lips are dumb, it closes the discussion with- 
out one true and effective word as to the remedy. The 
new theology preacher can make a diagnosis, he can tell 
what the trouble is with this old world, and he pro- 
fesses to have a cure for its sorrow, and sin, and guilt; 
but when he should apply the remedy, he finds that he 
has none! And here is the awful tragedy of it. Think 
of it. A preacher without a remedy for sin! During 
the past two years a certain leader of men chanced to 
hear two new theology preachers discourse on sin. They 
made an able diagnosis but they could not prescribe a 
cure for they had nothing to offer. One of them closed 
his vivid portrayal of sin with these words : "Come unto 
me all you who toil, and are burdened, and I will give 
you rest" (Matt. 11: 28). But how shall they come to 
Jesus Christ? Not one word ! What is the way by which 
men may come to Jesus Christ? Not a word! What 
must men do to come to Jesus Christ? Profound, awful 
3 



38 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

silence! What must men believe in order to come into 
the presence of Jesus Christ? A silence like unto death ! 

The new theology has no remedy for sin and guilt, 
because they reject the atonement of Jesus Christ. Why 
did not those preachers offer some sweet word of God to 
assure a sinner how he could get rid of sin and right 
with God? Why did they not say, "The blood of Jesus 
Christ, His son, purifies us from all sin"? (1st John 1:7), 
or, "If any one should sin, we have one who can plead 
for us with the Father — Jesus Christ, the Righteous — 
and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins; and not for 
ours only, but for those of the whole world besides" 
(John 2: 24). Or, "He himself carried our sins in his 
own body on the cross. His bruising was your healing" 
(1st Pet. 2: 24-25); or some other good word of the 
gospel of God's love and grace, showing how men can 
get rid of sin and right with God? The fact is, those 
false teachers, those wolves in sheep's clothing, part 
company with Jesus when they come to His cross, hence 
they have no remedy for sin. When for three years I 
studied under a new theology teacher at Colgate Sem- 
inary, the late Dr. W. N. Clark, I noticed by his teaching 
that he traveled with Jesus until he came to the cross, 
and that there — judging by his theology — he parted com- 
pany with Jesus Christ. Perhaps he partly explained to 
me unwittingly the secret by saying, "In my youth I 
attended an academy in a New England community, and 
Unitarianism was the dominant teaching there." May 
it not have been that in that little New England poison 
factory an alert and truly great mind got a bent in the 
formative period of youth from which he never recov- 
ered? This, however, could not be the full explanation, 
and Dr. Clark's theology, with no "Atoning Sacrifice" 
in it, has had much to do in spreading the modern 
apostasy of the new theology. 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 39 

REJECTION OF THE BLOOD. 

Still another mark of the new theology is found in 
the rejection of every word that reveals the heart of 
the redemptive work of Christ. The words, redemption, 
atonement, legal, sin-bearer, substitution and propitia- 
tion, they have ruled out of their religious vocabulary. 
Why? you ask. Because these words constitute a 
denial of the philosophy of evolution. These words pre- 
suppose a Fall. But how can there be a Fall in the 
scheme of evolution? Tell these teachers that we are 
living in a moral universe — a universe of law, that the 
fact of law on the one hand, and of sacrifice on the other, 
are written all over the face of nature, and it matters not 
to them. Tell them that the world beneath us is com- 
posed of graves, that the sun is slowly burning himself 
out, and some day he will be a corpse nailed to a cross ; 
tell them that one planet gives itself for another planet; 
tell them that the principle of Jesus' death is illustrated 
in the life of the family, society, the nation, the world; 
that the mother gives herself for her child, the lover 
for the object of his affections, the patriot for his coun- 
try, and that men everywhere die that others may not 
die, and suffer that others may not suffer, but it matters 
not to the teachers of the modern apostasy. It is amaz- 
ing how these teachers recoil from the mighty current 
of sacrifice flowing through the word of Revelation, those 
numberless scriptures which uncover to us the heart of 
God, the redeeming love of Christ, and the deep signifi- 
cance of man's eternal redemption. It would seem that 
they almost rave like demons at the word blood. They 
say, "Don't tell us of the blood of Christ, tell us of the 
example of Christ, of the sweet influence of Christ, of 
the humanity of Christ. Don't tell us that it was neces- 
sary for Jesus to die, that men are so hopelessly aban- 



40 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

doned and lost in sin, tell us not these things, but tell 
us only of the divinity of human nature and of the love 
of God. 

But how can we tell of the love of God and shut our 
eyes to what that love came unto our world to do? The 
scriptural way of making known the love of God is, 
"I am living by faith in the Son of God, who loved me 
and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2: 20). The inspired 
writer adds, "I do not frustrate the grace of God. If 
righteousness (or salvation) comes through law (or good 
works) then there was no need for Christ to die" (2: 21). 
In other words, if we reject the fact that Christ died for 
men, we are rejecting the love of God. God's love is 
seen in the death of Christ, as John says: "His love is 
seen in this — not in our having loved God, but in His 
loving us and sending His Son to be an atoning sacrifice 
for our sins" (1st John 4:9, 10). 

The world's richest blessings have come to us as a 
result of sacrifice. America boasts, and rightly, of our 
Constitution, that marvelous document, but what did we 
pay for it? Blood, blood, human blood, red blood! It 
takes blood to buy the world ! And it took the blood of 
Christ, God's Son, to redeem the world from sin. 

But the new theology tells us that "the Atonement 
has been worked to death." If I wanted to go to Chicago 
I would first have to procure a ticket and present it at 
the gate before I could ride to Chicago. The glorious 
atonement of Christ is a sinner's ticket by which he can 
be admitted through from the kingdom of Satan into 
the Kingdom of God. It is the only secret of his de- 
liverance from sin into the liberty of the sons of God. 
And can we work it to death? Do not lose this heavenly 
pass, for God has declared, "When I see the blood, I will 
pass over you" (Exo. 12: 13). And this ancient blood on 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 41 

the lintel of the doors in Egypt was a type of the blood 
of the Cross. We shall now live. O glorious blood of 
Jesus ! Do we wonder that Peter should say : "For you 
know that it was not by perishable things, such as silver 
and gold, that you were ransomed . . . but by precious 
blood, as it were of a lamb, . . . the blood of Christ" 
(1st Pet. 1: 18-19). God has pronounced His judgment 
on all those who, "have trampled under foot the Son of 
God, who have treated the blood that rendered the Cove- 
nant valid . . . as of no account, and who have out- 
raged the Spirit of Love" — the love that gave Jesus to 
die (Heb. 10: 29-30). 

The "Atonement worked to death !" The calamity that 
has come upon us is that the Atonement is not worked 
at all; rather it is ridiculed and rejected by the new 
theology advocates. Let the Atonement be truly tested 
and worked, and our slumbering churches will be re- 
vived, and men will talk no longer of the failure of 
Protestant churches on Manhattan Island. Work the 
death of the mighty Christ, and that will prove to be a 
greater success than sensational, disgraceful, and lying 
advertisements, and theatrical exhibitions, which some 
of the churches are resorting to in order to get the ears 
of the people. Work the Atonement and we shall not 
need to spend $200,000 in order to get Billy Sunday to 
come to labor for a few weeks in New York. Work 
it, and we shall witness in all the local churches the 
onward triumphs of the Kingdom of God. Work the 
Atonement and sinners will see their sins and fall at 
His feet, and crown Him Lord of all! 

FATHERHOOD AND BROTHERHOOD. 

The last mark of the new theology we would men- 
tion is its teaching regarding the fatherhood of God and 



42 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

the brotherhood of man— teaching a fatherhood and 
brotherhood where the Scriptures reveal there is neither. 
There is a fatherhood of God and a brotherhood of man 
taught in the Scriptures, but it is clear that both are 
confined exclusively to the regenerated. We are told 
that "no man can say that 'Jesus is Lord/ except under 
the influence of the Holy Spirit" (1st Corn. 12: 3), and 
also that, "unless a man is reborn, he cannot see the 
Kingdom of God" (John 3: 3), much less enter. Paul 
declares that "all who are guided by the Spirit are sons 
of God," and he adds, that "we have received the spirit 
of a son which leads us to cry, Our Father" (Rom. 8: 
14-15). The plain inference from these words is that 
God is the Father only of those who are regenerated by 
the Holy Spirit. By natural birth no one can claim 
membership in God's family. Man by sin lost his son- 
ship, his moral likeness to God, hence the relationship of 
son to father is no longer his, as Paul tells the Corin- 
thians in these words: 

"That is what God meant when he said : 
'Come out from among the nations, 
And separate yourselves from them/ "said the 
Lord," 

'And touch nothing impure; 
'And I will welcome you ; 
'And I will be a Father to you, 
'And you shall be my sons and daughters/ " 

(2nd Cor. 6: 16-18). 

Here again the plain inference is that only a holy life 
has any claim to, or promise of, the kinship of God as 
Father, and the blessings which result therefrom. In the 
Scriptures God is never spoken of as a Father, save to 
them that believe. Jesus took pains to say that the new 
born child of God is baptized into the name of the 
Father (Matt. 28: 19), that is, initiated into a new rela- 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 43 

tionship, a new protection and fellowship in which he 
can rightfully claim God as his Father. 

But to leave no doubt as to this matter let us read 
the words of Jesus to the Jews. They were having an 
argument over this very matter: the Jews taking the 
position of the present-day apostasy, that God is the 
Father of all men; but Jesus showed them clearly the 
line of demarkation between the born and the reborn, 
the generated and the regenerated, those who cannot 
and those who can address God as Father. Jesus said 
to them : 

"I tell you what I have myself seen in the presence 
of my Father; and you, in the same way, do what 
you have learned from your father." 

"Our Father is Abraham," was their answer. 

"If you are Abraham's children," replied Jesus, "do 
what Abraham did. But, as it is, you are seeking to 
put me to death. Abraham did not act in that way. 
You are doing what your own father does." 

"We are not bastards," they said, "we have one 
Father— God himself." 

"If God were your Father," Jesus replied, "you 
would have loved me. ... As for you, you are 
children of your father, the Devil, and you are deter- 
mined to do what your father loves to do" (John 8 : 
38-44). And now comes an uproar. When Jesus 
denied that God was their Father, they completely 
lost their equilibrium, and called him a Samaritan 
(a dog) and declared that He was "possessed by a 
demon" (verse 48) and shortly they took up stones 
to stone him (verse 59). 

The teaching of our Lord on the Fatherhood of God 
and brotherhood of man is unmistakably clear. Men 



44 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

must come to Christ before they can become brothers 
to men and children of God, claiming God as their 
Father. Only in Christ are men brothers, as only in 
Christ is God our Father. Our Lord hedged these great 
truths round about as one would the moral and legal 
grounds of relationship in a family. I want no one to 
tell me that John Smith is my natural brother, for I 
know who are my natural brothers as I know who is my 
natural father. To say that John Smith is my brother 
would be to incriminate the character of my father. And 
as human relationships have their boundaries and line of 
demarkation, and clearly defined laws and characteristics, 
so likewise has the great regenerated family of God. 

Jesus declared that brotherhood is conditioned on do- 
ing the will of God. "Whosoever does the will of God 
is my brother, ,, he says (Mark 3: 35). And to make it 
clear that only in Christ are men brothers he further 
says: 

"But to all who did receive Him, He gave power 
to become children of God" (John 1: 12). And He 
adds in verse 13, "For not to natural conception, nor 
to human instincts, nor to the will of man did they 
owe the new life, but to God." 

Here our Lord took pains to differentiate the natural 
family of man from the family of God, and to make clear 
what it is that entitles men to become children of God 
and to claim God as their Father. 

And yet in the face of the plainest declaration in God's 
word the new theology dares to preach a brotherhood 
of man and a fatherhood of God both of which Jesus 
Christ denies. The words "Our Father," used in the 
Lord's Prayer, were intended to be used by obedient 
children of God. The parable of the Prodigal Son does 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 45 

not reveal a brotherhood of man, but rather how a way- 
ward son may be restored again into the Father's fellow- 
ship. 

Men by nature brothers! History belies the claim. 
This earth has been baptised in human blood. Man by 
nature is not a brother of man, but a sinner, and because 
a sinner, much more an enemy of man than a brother, 
and a rebel against God (Eph. 2 1-3). A new heart, love, 
nature, are necessary to Christian brotherhood. 

We have some men who control vast wealth, and who 
have gathered their millions from the sweat and blood 
and genius of their fellow men, and who are going 
about this country teaching the brotherhood of man as 
the one panacea for all our ills. This would be well 
if it were the new brotherhood in Christ they were teach- 
ing, but it is the natural brotherhood of man, the natural 
brotherhood of those men from whose heart God says, 
"proceed evil thoughts, murder, adultery, unchastity, 
theft, perjury, slander, etc." (Matt. 15: 19). Every 
natural man has in him the elements that, if developed 
would make him a murderer. Yet it is this brother- 
hood these men are talking about, as the panacea for all 
our ills. We might imagine the hawk saying to the 
helpless chick as he swoops down upon it, "I will not 
harm you, I am your brother/' but the instinct of the 
chick would tell it that that hawk is a liar and not to 
be trusted, and it would wisely run for shelter to its 
mother's wings. The natural man, uncontrolled by God 
is like that hawk. No man outside the constraining and 
controling love of God is to be trusted; and a brother- 
hood based on man's natural covetous nature is not the 
brotherhood of which the Bible speaks. God is our 
Father if we are born into his likeness, made anew by 
his own Holy Spirit, and man is our brother if he too 



46 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

"has been rescued from the tyranny of darkness and 
has been brought into the Kingdom of his Son" (Col. 
1: 13). 

But enough has been said to show how we may dis- 
cern between the true and the false, the gospel of Jesus 
Christ and the false denials, philosophies, speculations 
of our present day. The new heresies have been proven 
to be false, but the old truth has stood the test of cen- 
turies, and can still place dimples of joy on the cheek 
of the sinful, sorrowing world — it is still the power of 
God unto salvation to all who believe and obey. 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 47 

Chapter IV 
THE REMEDY 

Let us now in briefest outline try to show how the 
churches can extricate themselves from the snare of 
the modern apostasy and bring back the Christian people 
to the truth as it is in Christ. 

REVOLUTION IN THE SEMINARIES. 

There must be a change in the curriculums in our 
seminaries, and also in the teaching staffs. There is no 
use in denying the fact that one of our greatest prob- 
lems is the theological seminaries. That these insti- 
tutions are not doing the work for which they were 
founded and endowed is beyond any reasonable doubt. 
False teachers have been admitted into some of the 
seminaries. America has been an orthodox and evan- 
gelical country up to three or four decades ago, until the 
divinity schools began to flirt with German rationalism 
and evolution, and Boston Unitarianism, since which time 
there has been an uninterrupted down-grade movement. 
And for the churches, here is one of our greatest and 
most pressing problems, to wit : To compel the trustees 
of the seminaries, and many of the colleges, to call a 
halt and bring about a change in teachers, and text- 
books, and reference books used. All chairs of Biblical 
criticism should be abolished. All teachers of the new 
theology point of view should be dismissed, and only 
men should be employed who strongly believe in the 
divine authority and inspiration of the Bible. 

It is a notorious fact that not a few young men were 
stronger, more successful preachers, before they entered 



48 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

the seminary than after their graduation. Many of 
the graduates go out into the world not knowing just 
what to believe and preach. We give our noblest young 
men to the seminary, with our love, our prayers, our 
gifts, young men whose hearts are aflame in the service 
of God ; but what, in many cases, does the seminary give 
back? Not the young man with the same glowing faith, 
but alas a doubter of the miracles, of the deity of our 
Lord, of the authority of the Bible, and its full inspiration. 
And to the churches these men go to disseminate their 
doubts, and create stagnation, schism, death. In this 
we find one of the greatest tragedies of the twentieth 
century. 

The seminary should be the place where doubt is dis- 
pelled, and faith strongly established in the Bible as 
God's revelation to men. If the student goes to the 
seminary in a state of mental uncertainty regarding the 
Bible, it is the duty, the imperative business of the 
seminary, to remove all such doubts, and re-establish 
the student in his faith in the inspiration and authority 
of the Bible. If the seminary fails here it fails every- 
where. And right here is where it often fails: That 
more men than are generally supposed go out from the 
seminaries to fail because of this new theology teaching, 
and quit the ministry, is an undeniable fact. The semin- 
ary made shipwreck of their holy faith. What a pity 
that these noble men had ever seen a seminary! Here 
is one of the most horrible dramas in our modern life. 

Three students are now recalled who accepted while 
in the seminaries the new theology. One of these is now 
making coffins, another is making tombstones, and the 
third is an undertaker. Another new theology preacher 
in a New York Presbyterian church recently went before 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 49 

his people and denounced the Bible and the ministry and 
never went inside a church since. 

REVOLUTION IN THE CHURCHES. 

The churches can guard their pulpits at home against 
every preacher and teacher of the new theology. Not 
only must the churches withhold their sons and daugh- 
ters from those institutions where the new theology 
is taught, but they must also bar their pulpits at home 
against these men, however winning their personality, 
and brilliant their gifts. Let the churches call upon the 
Practical Bible Schools and the Theological Schools 
where the old theology is taught for ministers to teach 
and lead them. And let every candidate be rigidly ex- 
amined as to his views regarding the inspiration of the 
Bible and the atonement by Christ. If he is sound here 
he is sound everywhere. But not under any circum- 
stances must the new theology preacher have an oppor- 
tunity to preach, as a candidate or otherwise, for these 
are cunning men, they can feign orthodoxy and hide 
their infidelity, in order to get a call, and after they get 
a call, in order to hold a pastorate, their distructive 
teaching will be dealt out stealthily, in small doses, until 
they have won the congregation, after which it is no 
easy matter to get rid of the enemy of the cross of 
Christ. But if the new theology preacher is in the 
church, let the church without delay dismiss him, even 
at the cost of a disruption. It is better to divide the 
church, in the effort to get rid of this type of preacher, 
than it is to have the real work of the church nullified, 
that is, as an evangelical and soul-winning institution. 

Men and women of our protestant churches, the hour 
has struck when we must grapple with this momentous 
matter. Already the enemy has become entrenched 



50 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

within our gates, and the churches are being slowly 
won away from the Lord who bought them. We appeal 
to the trustees, and to the sane conservative teachers 
of our theological seminaries. It is within your power 
to help solve the problem. Will you do it? We appeal 
to the local churches to place a holy boycott upon every 
preacher of the modern apostasy, to withhold from him 
your financial and personal support. This is no time 
for namby-pamby words, but for firmness and loyalty. 
The new theology preachers must go from our pulpits, or 
the churches, as evangelical institutions, must disinte- 
grate and perish. Let the churches withhold their gifts 
from the Christless propaganda, and cleanse their hands 
of giving any kind of support to those deluded preachers 
who would undermine the foundation laid in the blood 
of Christ for the upbuilding of the Kingdom of God. 
Then a new day will dawn for Zion, streams of salva- 
tion will flow in our midst, times of refreshing from 
God's presence will be ours, and the saints of God will 
shout for joy! Exit, new German theology! Enter 
spirit of obedience, love and power! 

Come Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove! 

With all thy quickening powers, 
Kindle a flame of sacred love, 

And that shall kindle ours. 

We would say in the words of the great Scotch 
preacher, Dr. Chalmers, "What we most need is the 
expulsive power of a great affection." 



BOOK NO. 2 



Can God Inspire a Book 



? 



Does He Inspire Only Men? 

Chapter I 

GENERAL STATEMENTS 

"The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word 
of our God shall stand forever." — Isaiah. 

In this series, "The New German-Made Theology 
Under Fire; or, The Modern Conflict Over the Bible," 
we shall now take up the second message and discuss 
the most momentous question of our day, the inspiration 
and authority of the Bible. This question is not only 
fundamental, it is in every conceivable sense the one 
question the answer to which must determine all other 
matters of importance in the realm of Christianity. The 
new theology is attacking the authority and inspiration 
of the Bible, and as a result many are forsaking the 
churches, and some of our clergy are renouncing the 
pulpit and Christianity itself. The new theology ad- 
vocates tell us that Christ would triumph and Chris- 
tianity would flourish even if men should abandon their 
faith in the trustworthiness and inspiration of the Bible. 
It is the silliest of all lies. The Bible alone gives us 
an account of Jesus. If we discredit the record we re- 
ject the claims of Christianity. 



52 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

HOW JESUS USED THE BIBLE. 

In this book we shall prove beyond a doubt that the 
Bible is divine in its origin, authority, and inspiration, 
that it is in very truth the word of God that shall stand 
forever. We are going to show, not why we believe the 
Bible to be inspired, but why we know the Bible to be 
inspired. And we are going to make it plain that the 
church can win by following the example of Jesus in the 
use of the Bible. When Jesus faced a crisis he did not 
run to the Wall Street of Jerusalem, to the Morgans and 
Rockefellers of his day, but He fell back upon a much 
greater power, the word of God. The comparison seems 
almost blasphemous. The Old Testament, exactly as we 
have it today, was to Jesus Christ the inspired word of 
God, and when Satan attacked him at the opening of his 
ministry he did not fall back upon his own supernatural 
resources, but he won his great victory by saying, "It 
is written." "It is written." Likewise must the church 
win today. If the Bible was our Lord's means of defense 
and offense surely also it must be ours. We must 
imitate Jesus. We cannot win by a cowardly neutrality 
and compromise, by a spirit of complacency and partial 
acquiescence with our enemies. We are living in a day 
of compromise, when men in the church, in order to 
make sure of financial gain are betraying Christ by a 
compromise with world powers. The publishing houses 
in many cases will not publish a book because 
it might offend the financial interests. Is it true that 
most of our great religious publishing houses today are 
under the control of Wall Street, and no literature is 
published unless it meets with the approval of the great 
powers? Is money their god? Is Jesus betrayed in the 
house of his pretended friends? Men are fearful of 
imitating Jesus, by using and defending the word of God. 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 53 

They don't measure a question in the light of eternal 
realities. They don't say, "It is written." They would 
unite in pulling down the word of God if it helped to 
feather their nest. Here then, is our pattern: We must 
hold with a life and death grip to the Bible as the word 
of God, as Jesus Christ did. "It is written." "It is 
written." "It is written." 

MOMENTOUS QUESTIONS. 

In order to get at the matter we have chosen for 
the subject of this book, we shall first try to bring it be- 
fore our thought by a series of pertinent and suggestive 
questions. 

What do we mean by the term inspiration? Does the 
Bible stand alone unique in character, power and inspira- 
tion? Is it possible that the Christian world for cen- 
turies, has been mistaken regarding this great question, 
and that for the first time the truth as to the real 
character and purpose of the Bible is beginning to shine 
forth in the twentieth century? Do the views we hold 
regarding the inspiration of the Bible sustain an im- 
portant relation to the progress of the Christian Church, 
or can the world be evangelized by men who view the 
Bible as erroneous, untrustworthy, hence uninspired, 
if so, what shall be the message and authority and how 
shall it be done? If the Christian people should give up 
their faith in the Bible as a divine revelation could the 
church of Jesus Christ survive? If the Bible is inspired 
only as the hymns of Fanny Crosby, Isaac Watts, 
Charles Wesley, and other pious writers, precisely the 
same in character, what is the basis of authority in the 
Christian religion? If it be claimed that good men 
are the basis of authority, who are these men, what 
are their names, where do they live, for we should like 
4 



54 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

to know these men, to hear them talk, or preach, to 
read their writings, or theology, to study them at close 
quarters. We should also like to know whether these 
men are agreed in their views, or religious opinions, or 
theologies, and if they are not agreed, whether we can 
for one moment believe that men, modern men, good 
men, are the true and real and only basis of authority 
in the Christian religion? Our discussion will cluster 
in a general way, though somewhat disconnectedly, 
around these pertinent, up-to-date, and momentous 
questions. 

The title of this message is sufficiently modern. We 
grant that it sounds somewhat irreverent, but it was 
suggested by a sermon, which a new theology preacher, 
a student in Union Seminary in New York, delivered 
on "The Modern Point of View of Religion," in which 
he declared that "God cannot inspire a book, he inspires 
only men." We shall now challenge the truth of this 
brazen statement of the new theology. We propose to 
prove its utter absurdity, and to make clear that the 
aim of the evolutionists is to foist what is practically a 
sort of new religion on mankind — not "after the pat- 
tern made in the holy mount," and by the Man of 
Calvary, but rather made after the pattern manufactured 
in the infidel universities of Germany. 

NATURAL DIVISIONS. 

The name Bible signifies "the book," and was applied 
for the first time by Chrysostom in the fourth century to 
the books of the Old and New Testament, which up to 
that time had been called the "Scripture." The ancient 
plural has been transformed into a singular noun in view 
of the recognized unity of the books of the Bible, and 
which is thus called The Book, by way of eminence. 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 55 

We hardly need remind ourselves that the Bible has 
two general diversions, the Old and the New Testament, 
and both were written under the form of a will or 
covenant or compact between God and man. 

The Old Testament was divided by the Jews into 
three parts, the Law, the Prophets, and the Sacred Writ- 
ings. The Law comprised the five books of Moses, the 
Prophets comprise all the prophetic writings from Joshua 
to Malachi, the Sacred Writings, or as we say, the poetic, 
or better still, the Wisdom Literature, include the Book 
of Job, the Psalms, the Proverbs, Ruth, Lamentations, 
Ecclesiastes and Esther. 

The New Testament gives us the only original account 
of the origin and spread of Christianity, and is made up 
of twenty-seven books, only one of which is prophetic, 
the book of Revelation, all the others being biographical 
and epistolary, comprising the life of Jesus and the 
Apostles' letters to the churches. 

INSPIRATION DEFINED. 

Is this large collection named the Bible, inspired? To 
this the church in all ages has given an affirmative an- 
swer, and we have ample reason for believing that the 
church in this particular is correct. The word "inspira- 
tion" occurs only twice in all the Bible, but God does not 
have to repeat Himself in order to confirm His truth. 
We believe that the spirit of inspiration breathes on every 
page and illumines every word of the Bible. 

The word "inspiration" literally means to breathe into, 
to infuse supernatural life or ideas into the human mind. 
God breathed into the minds of the writers of the Bible 
its ideas, its great spiritual content, and that is what 
we mean by inspiration. But how God did this, how 
he prepared the minds of the writers for this lofty work 



56 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

so that there was perfect harmony between the human 
and Divine, we do not know, and it is not necessary that 
we should know. Of course, God did not write the Bible. 
We have only two records of where Deity wrote — God 
wrote the ten commandments and Jesus wrote on the 
ground. The Bible was written by man, could only have 
been written by man, for it comes to us clothed in the 
speech, the language of man; and for such a work man 
must have been prepared. This preparation is what 
we mean by inspiration. 

How God did this work, or how he influenced or 
operated upon the writers, we do not know, we may only 
speculate. It is certain that God did not do this in a 
mechanical way. God did not control the writers as a 
boy controls his jumping toys. In this holy work there 
must have been the freedom of natural expression as is 
seen by the different individualities of the writers. 
Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, John, Paul and 
others, all declare that God spoke to him, but they do 
not tell us how God spoke, or how he operated upon 
them. They probably did not know. The communica- 
tion of life in the physical and spiritual world is a pro- 
found secret. Science cannot help us here. The mystery 
of the origin, or the creation and communication of life 
is still unknown to man. We need not remind ourselves 
that the father and mother, who are the active agents in 
physical creation, do not understand the divine process 
or secret of imparting life. All they know is that life, 
that pearl of infinite value, the crown of God's creation, 
is in evidence, and soon they begin to behold, to wonder, 
and to love, while their hearts are enraptured with joy. 

And so it is with the inspiration of the Bible, for life 
is there also ; there is a holy joy that thrills and fills the 
heart of man as he reads and appropriates the wonderful 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 57 

truths of the Bible. And as he enters into this holy 
experience, he knows — he cannot tell just how or why, 
but he knows (it is the secret of spiritual life) — that 
holy men of old wrote as they were moved upon by the 
divine spirit, and that knowledge satisfies. It is the 
secret of life responding to life, to a higher and diviner 
life. 

There are a thousand reasons for believing that the 
original manuscripts of the Bible contained no error. 
We cannot conceive of error if God inspired the writers 
to give these truths to men. And we need not be sur- 
prised if men deny and reject this great fact for it is 
natural for man to doubt and to assail the Bible, espe- 
cially those parts which reveal and condemn his sin. 

The Bible must condemn sin if it is God's Book. The 
Bible must be honest and perfect if it is God's word. 
The fact is that all God's work is perfect, and the Bible 
being a part of his work, must be perfect, that is, it 
completely fulfills the purpose for which it was ordained. 
The Bible is not a text-book on science, it is a revelation 
of the fact of Creation, and of the plan of Salvation, fully 
setting forth God's marvelous method in Redemption, 
and in all these respects the Bible is the perfect Book of 
God. 



58 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

Chapter II 
EVIDENCE FROM EXPERIENCE 

In subsequent chapters we shall discuss the scientific 
and internal evidences of the inspiration of the Bible. 
In this chapter we shall consider what may be termed, 
evidence from experience. 

AMPLE REASONS. 

There are ample reasons for believing the Bible to be 
inspired, reasons that can satisfy both mind and heart. 
We have no right to ask men to accept the Bible as 
God's word without furnishing them with ample reason 
for their acceptance. While it is not reason but faith 
that brings us in contact with God, yet Christianity ap- 
peals powerfully to reason. The loving God often enters 
the approach to man's soul by the gateway of reason. 
Sublime indeed in their marvelous condescension are the 
words, "Come now and let us reason together, saith the 
Lord, though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as 
white as snow." Here is the Supreme Reason inviting 
man to reason with Him over the mystery of the atone- 
ment — how God can be just and yet acquit the guilty, 
who believe in Jesus Christ. The glory and mystery 
of the atonement is seen in the fact that God can make 
red sins and black sins, white as snow, that is, that he 
can make a sinner as sinless before God as if he had 
never sinned. It requires the Divine Reason to make this 
clear to men. Instead of rejecting the atonement, let 
men come and reason it over with God, who alone fully 
understands its sublime significance. 

If God could get men to stop and think earnestly with 
honest desire, to reason with their minds and hearts, 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 59 

and to ask God questions, while conscious of their own 
limitations, they would soon wake up in the surprise and 
joy of the new life; they would soon submit to God, to 
his program for mankind ; they would soon love God. If 
we could persuade men to read and carefully study the 
Bible and put it to the test, it would not be long before 
they would crown Jesus Christ Lord of all. It is the 
false and indolent reasoning of men that keeps them from 
knowing the loving God of the Bible. When we hear 
men talk against the Bible, we may make up our minds 
that there is something wrong, something unreasonable 
in them. "For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, 
neither cometh to the light, lest his bad conduct should 
be reproved" (John 3: 20). 

We have ample reasons for accepting the Bible as the 
inspired word of God, not reasons that will satisfy the 
abnormal critic, but that the honest, average mind, open 
to the truth will see clearly and readily accept. We should 
like to reach the university man with these messages, but 
we are more concerned over the rank and file, the great 
bulk of the ordinary folk that make up the churches 
in America. Our greatest desire is to indoctrinate the 
young men and women of our country in the fundamental 
doctrines of Christianity. Already these messages have 
reached some of our college and seminary men, with 
the result, that they have separated themselves from 
certain educational institutions. The grand old truth can 
win even the modern evolutionist and rationalist and 
destructive critic of the Bible. Our object, however, is 
to help the average people, the merchant, the clerk, the 
mechanic, the farmer, the servant man and woman in 
every sphere, the man who sweeps the streets, the sailor 
and the soldier, and even the outcast from society. We 
want these great facts about the Bible to be read and 
known by men everywhere. 



60 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

It is to this end that we are eschewing loud sounding 
technical, scholastic, philosophical, theological, and scien- 
tific terms, and clothing our thought in the simple, plain 
language of the average man. We love the plain Eng- 
lish — the language of Bunyan, Wesley, Bright, Spur- 
geon, Broadus and Moody. 

EXPERIENCE REVEALS IT. 

The first proposition we would submit is that ex- 
perience proves the Bible to be inspired. 

The Bible message finds us, shows us the kind of men 
we are, furnishes us with a true photograph of the human 
heart, finds us on the lowest levels of life, and on the 
highest levels, and tells us in the most direct and un- 
varnished way what we are, and what we ought to be. 
There is no escaping the revelation of our own inner- 
most life, when we read the Bible. No book shows man 
his sins as does the Bible. It does not cover up the 
sins of the learned and the rich, those in high places. 
In the Bible, the king and the beggar are on the same 
level before God. The Bible did not cover up Jacob's 
dishonesty, Cain's murder, David's immorality, Peter's 
lying and blasphemy, and Saul of Tarsus whose hands 
were red with the blood of the martyrs. If the Bible were 
man's book, it would never give us a record of the sins 
of its own writers. Some of its authors were once high- 
handed villains, but grace cleansed them. We call this 
experimental evidence, because it is discovered in the 
moral and spiritual life of those who wrote and also those 
who study the Bible and translate its principles into 
life. 

No other book reads like the Bible ; it reads like a book 
that God Himself would produce through consecrated, 
spirit-filled lives. Everything is done in the open and 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 61 

above board in this Book. Jesus said, "That which is 
done in secret will be proclaimed from the housetops." 
There are no secret treaties, vows, or obligations en- 
dorsed in the Book of God. And this is God's plan, and 
the Bible rings true to this frank, open method through- 
out. There is a moral and spiritual tone in this Book 
that cannot be approached in any literature. The near- 
est approach to the Bible, in this respect, is the letter 
a loving mother would write to her child far from home. 
There is a heart note, a fatherly, a motherly note in the 
Bible. I am now reminded of what a friend said to me 
after his return from Palestine. "Were you lonely over 
there?" I asked. "Nearly died from it," was his reply. 
"I longed to get a letter from my mother. At last it 
arrived in a batch of letters. The first one I opened 
was from mother, and I did not have to look at the 
signature to know that it was her letter. It sounded 
like mother from the start, and I knew it was her letter." 
The illustration is faulty, but it may suggest that we 
are trying to make clear about the Bible. It speaks like 
God, loves like God, and sounds throughout like God, 
from its opening declaration of Creation to its consumma- 
tion of a redeemed, a sinless and Immortal Humanity. 
These facts might be interpreted as external evidence, 
but we prefer to make a distinction, and class as evidence 
from experience the varied spiritual experiences of men 
as they are influenced by the Bible. The Bible produces 
the highest type of moral and spiritual character, a type 
different from any other type of character to be found 
in all the world. The Koran produces a revengeful, cruel, 
persecuting type. The sacred books of India cannot 
produce the lowly, humble, loving Christian type. The 
fruit of these religions is largely superstition and indol- 
ence. True, India and China have their philosophers and 



62 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

reformers, but that is all they have. The latter, how- 
ever, are an imitation of Western ideas and propaganda. 
India could not give to the world a Savonarola, nor a 
Luther. The disciples of the Eastern religions are char- 
acterized by laziness, untruthfulness, immorality, and 
superstition. The Pagan faiths cannot produce a Paul 
and a Moody, nor even an inferior type of Christian 
character. 

The Christian nations are the enlightened, the aggres- 
sive, the dominant people of the earth. Education, phil- 
anthropy, and material prosperity are complements of 
true Christianity. Wherever there is an open Bible 
progress is in evidence. The advance of mankind in all 
that is highest and best can be traced directly to the 
influence of the Bible. This fact stands out unchal- 
lenged and irrefutable. 

The individual experiences of men and women, the con- 
scious joy, rest and peace in their own hearts, furnish 
us with infalliable proof of the inspiration of the Bible. 
Here the Christian consciousness is eloquent and 
irrepressible. No argument from science nor philosophy 
can justly contradict this kind of knowledge nor over- 
throw it. 

The blind man to whom Jesus gave his sight has aptly 
put it in words that have become a classic in Christian 
testimony. "This one thing I know that whereas I was 
blind now I see." Infidelity may heap up arguments to 
the sun but cannot refute this evidence. 

HOW THE WRITER DISCOVERED IT. 

It was by the gateway of experience that the author of 
this message became acquainted with God's Book. In my 
early life, while I did not talk it out, yet I was somewhat 
of an agnostic. I had heard Christians tell of their 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 63 

experiences, but was inclined to doubt it all, and to 
believe that their experiences could be accounted for on 
psychological grounds, that there was no supernatural 
element in them, that if there is a God he does not come 
to men slowly nor suddenly nor from without, or in 
any special way aside from the natural way, the ordinary 
way of imparting knowledge, namely, by education. I 
wondered whether a certain kind of education did not 
explain it all — in short, whether the glowing experi- 
ence I had heard folks tell were not largely, if not wholly, 
imaginary. 

I was inclined to believe that the creative Power had 
put in nature those elements that make up or develop 
into what we call religious experience, and that man 
by the gradual process of natural growth, or what is 
known today as evolution, comes into the possession of 
a religious consciousness, or experience, just as by proper 
physical exercise he comes into the possession of 
muscle. 

In those early days, before I had any knowledge of 
atheistic evolution, and rationalistic philosophy gener- 
ally, I was unconsciously a sort of evolutionist, a new 
theology dreamer and speculator, though I did not 
know it. Later, however, as result of higher knowledge, 
I learned that my conception was a dangerous decep- 
tion, as was proven by the new Christian experience 
which had become mine, and which I had doubted in 
the lives of others. 

In the light of this new experience I discovered myself, 
my alienation from God by nature, that sin had darkened 
my moral perceptions and judgment, that I was a nice, 
nasty, moralist, a bewildered evolutionist, a rationalistic 
nebula, ignorant and self-righteous, in short an unsaved, 



64 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

unreconciled soul, with no knowledge of the true "God 
and without hope in the world." 

But how did all this come to pass? I will explain. 
I decided to deal fairly with Jesus Christ, and test him 
in an honest manner. I did not doubt that Jesus was 
an historical character. I set about to test Christ and 
his principles as we would labor to prove a mathematical 
question, or in some such intellectual, calculating, scien- 
tific way. 

I began a study of the gospels. I found that Jesus 
had made certain claims, declaring that he came from 
God, was the unique Son of God, and had come to 
redeem mankind — to give His life as a ransom for many. 
He affirmed that if men would do certain things they 
would get certain results. He said : "Ask and it shall be 
given you, etc." He invited men to prove God and 
to see if he was not a teacher come from God. He de- 
clared that his messiahship was demonstrable, that 
men could find out whether he was what he claimed 
to be, and could do for them what he claimed he 
could do. This appealed strongly to me as eminently 
reasonable and fair, so I set about to put Jesus Christ 
to an honest test. 

Jesus said pray and we would receive, find, and make 
the great discovery of God, using his name in our peti- 
tions. He declared that God is a royal benefactor, a 
gracious, helping friend, ever ready to hear an honest 
prayer and bestow pardon, gifts, and graces upon men. 
I prayed as Jesus directed, and methodically, persistently, 
continuously, every day and night, at long and short 
intervals, and watched for the result; but no result 
seemed to come from this moral exercise. Yet I con- 
tinued to pray, for I argued that if Christianity be true 
it is well worth spending a lifetime to find it out. 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 65 

I found that Jesus taught men to believe all the Old 
Testament as God's revealed truth. He also taught us 
to love our enemies, and I found that I could not do the 
latter. He commanded us to love God, and I tried to see 
in God those things that would induce my cold, unrespon- 
sive heart to love him. 

Again, Jesus commanded us to confess him before 
men, to talk about him to men, and this I tried to do to 
every person with whom I had a good opportunity. He 
commanded me to deny myself in a moral and ethical 
way and this I did. Within a short time I found myself 
praying much, talking much, obeying as best I could 
the teachings of Jesus, and trying to love as he com- 
manded. I read the Bible daily, sometimes a whole book 
at one sitting, but it was to me not a warm, living, 
moving power, but rather a legal, cold, stern, command- 
ing book. The truth is, while I respected it, yet I did 
not love the Bible. I was aware of the fact that I 
had no special love for God, for Jesus Christ, nor for 
his people, nor for the Bible, and no happiness found 
in this religious business though I had perused it for 
two months and more. But in God's good time the great 
discovery was made. And this was how it came about: 
I began a close study of the sufferings and death of 
Jesus as he is portrayed in the New Testament as an 
offering or sacrifice for sin; and in this study I was 
greatly impressed by the fact that he died for me per- 
sonally, as if I were the only person in all the world. 
And now what God asked me to see was his great love 
for me in giving his Son to die for me, in order to 
deliver me from the bondage of sin and death, and 
make me immortal. As I thought about this over and 
over, and repented and believed, suddenly a spiritual 



66 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

light burst in upon me, and almost instantaneously I 
was changed, renewed, saved. And what was the result? 
From that time on I had a passionate love for our 
gracious, loving, Heavenly Father, for Jesus Christ the 
Son of God, who died to redeem me, a poor sinner, for 
Christians also, and for the Bible. The Bible at once 
became a new book to me. I discovered the Bible. I 
now knew that the Bible was the inspired truth of God. 
I made the demonstration in my own experience. Before 
this the Bible was largely a sealed book, but now it 
had become a vitalizing power day by day in my life. 
Its teachings awakened my dormant spiritual faculties, 
and directed and inspired my life as by a heavenly and 
irresistible charm. It was the charm of a new love, a 
new holy life with Christ in God — the Christian life. 
I now knew that the Bible is inspired, because it in- 
spired me, and through its teachings I was led into an 
absolutely new life. 

WHY THE CRITIC OBJECTS. 

Now why do men, professedly Christian men, in and 
out of our institutions, and some also in Christian pulpits, 
criticise the Bible, and reject its inspiration? Why? 
It is because these men have not learned to see that 
the Bible, like its heavenly Author, must be discovered 
along the line of Christian experience. This was what 
Jesus meant when He said: "If any man willeth to do 
my will he shall know." What shall he know? "He 
shall know," says Jesus, "the doctrine, whether it be of 
God of whether I speak from myself." That is he 
will be given the power to discriminate, to clearly under- 
stand the character and source of his doctrine. He shall 
know whether Jesus spoke as Shakespeare, Emerson, 
Spencer, or Haeckel spoke, out of the light of human 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 67 

knowledge, or whether Jesus spoke from God, or gave a 
special revelation of God to men. The inspiration and 
character of the Bible, therefore, is a fact, and demon- 
strable in Christian experience. 

Here is where we find the key to the Bible. The Bible 
is a spiritual book, and cannot be understood by the ap- 
plication of the principles of literary interpretation. 
Scholarship furnishes some mechanical and valuable aids 
to the study of the Bible. We can never afford to be 
apostles of ignorance. But it should not be forgotten 
that the secret of the Bible is a new spiritual life with 
Christ in God, and the key to this is found not in 
scholarship but in the hands of the Holy Spirit, the Lord 
of Life, and when we come to Christ in simple faith 
and joyful obedience, then there is revealed to us the 
spiritual secret, or given to us the key by which we 
can unlock the door and enter into the vast spiritual 
realities and treasuries of the Bible. If we would know 
the Bible we must first surrender our intellects to the 
dominance of the life-giving spirit of Christ. The yielded 
life is the secret. God's plan is that man must first 
surrendered to him before he can be saved and illumined 
intellectually and spiritually. 

When the teacher or preacher, or humblest layman, 
criticises the Bible, we may rest assured that they are 
advertising the fact that there is something wrong in 
their life, that they are holding on to some sin, which 
they are not willing to abandon. If we find a teacher or 
preacher criticising the Bible, they thereby show their 
hypocracy, that they are in their calling simply for what 
they can get out of it, to make money, for the same 
reason that a merchant usually conducts his .business. 
If the salaries of the theological seminary teachers who 
are destructive critics, were cut down from $10,000 or 



68 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

$5,000 to $1,000, these radical critics would soon give 
up their work of picking the Bible to pieces, and would 
hunt for a more profitable job. Not knowing our blessed 
Lord as a personal Saviour from sin, these destructive 
critics, these manufacturers of doubt, imagine that to 
criticise the Bible is proof of a superior scholarship, not 
knowing that in so doing they are revealing colossal 
ignorance. We repeat, that the man who loves to 
criticise the Bible, or deny its miracles and authority, 
and ignore its Messiah, is not living the true Christian 
life. He does not know Jesus Christ. He is still in his 
sins. He is in no state of mind to express an opinion 
on so great a matter as the inspiration of the Bible. 

UNSCIENTIFIC AND EMOTIONAL. 

But we meet objections to this argument for the in- 
spiration of the Bible, as to the premise and conclusion, 
affirming that this point of view is unscientific, senti- 
mental, visionary, emotional, and untrustworthy, that it 
sounds like mother's emotional, sentimental argument. 
Well, what if it does? Can we afford to make light of 
sentiment, of emotion in religion? The charm of the 
Bible is that its truths get far deep into the depths of 
our emotional nature, and purifies our emotions, and 
turns our affections toward the loving God. 

Our Lord never spoke slightingly of emotional religion, 
the holy joy that expresses itself at times in ecstasy 
and tears. "J esus wept," is the shortest and one of the 
sweetest verses in the Bible. When the depths of his 
loving heart were stirred, beside the dead form of his 
friend Lazarus, his great emotional religion could only 
express itself, for a moment, in tears. God's greatest 
saints have been weeping saints. Our sainted mothers, 
— God bless their memories — many of them knew far 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 69 

more about God and his Book than do many of their 
educated children. They wept their way home to God. 
What the pulpit lacks today, yes, what we all lack, 
is the old-time, glowing religion of love and tears. God 
give the American pulpit more tears, and less cold, intel- 
lectual, carping criticism. Paul said that he wept day 
and night over the souls of men, His great, big heart 
just overflowed in passionate love for Christ and men. 
God give the theological seminary more tears! God 
give his church everywhere an emotional religion, a 
religion of true Christian experience, the experience by 
which men make the great discovery that the Bible 
is God's inspired Book. "Christianity is nothing if it 
is not an experience." 



70 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

Chapter III 

SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE 

There are good reasons for the view that the inspira- 
tion of the Bible can be demonstrated scientifically. 
Science being classified facts, systemized knowledge, gen- 
erally in the realm of law, it follows that facts in the 
realm of moral and spiritual laws can be classified also, 
and designated science. In this sense the inspiration of 
the Bible can be proven scientifically, for we have well- 
established moral facts on which to build our science 
of inspiration. 

IS THE BIBLE AN EVOLUTION? 

One reason why the German school denies any special 
inspiration to the Bible, beyond what they claim all 
highly, ethical literature possesses, is that to them the 
Bible is an evolution, as is its environment of nature, 
and moral and mental life, that is, that all are a 
growth, progressing and changing, ever evolving. If 
the Bible is inspired it is only as all spiritual life is 
inspired, that there can be no special, unique, distinct 
inspiration for the Bible. All truth to them is not a 
fixed, unchanging quality and principle, it is a growth. 

But this we stoutly deny. Truth is a fixed, unchang- 
ing and eternal principle and quality ; it never progresses 
in the sense that man progresses; it is eternal and un- 
changing. Truth can no more be an evolution than God 
or Christ can be an evolution, for it is a moral and un- 
changing attribute. Truth is a clear index to the char- 
acter of God; it is a reflection of God; it is a special 
revelation from God. Truth is not a creation, it is an 
eternal attribute of God. When Jesus said, "I am the 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 71 

Truth," he meant to say that he was incapable of error, 
that is, he is divine. When the apostle said of Jesus 
that he is "the same yesterday, today, and forever," he 
meant us to understand that Jesus Christ is divine, un- 
changing, not an evolution, but the unchanging eternal 
One. As Isaac Watts puts it: 

"Thy Years Are One Eternal Day." 

And God expressed the same idea of himself, when 
he said to Malachi, "I changed not." 

The new theology must not confuse man with truth. 
Man grows, progresses, changes, and his growth in the 
lightness of God will be conditioned on his appropria- 
tion and assimilation of the truth of God. The above 
facts will explain why the new theology speaks of the 
old theology as unprogressive, reactionary, and why the 
old speaks of the new as radical, critical, destructive, 
rejectors of the word of God. 

The new theology is constructed largely on theories, 
unproved assumptions, untenable hypotheses, specula- 
tive, atheistic evolution, while the old theology is built 
upon the unchanging word of God. 

Theories, however attractive, are only man's wisdom, 
and ofttimes his folly, while the truth is God's wisdom. 
If this be not true then we shall have to abandon all views 
of any special revelation and inspiration regarding the 
Bible. 

If the Bible is an evolution then the new theology is 
correct in denying to it any special inspiration, for in that 
case it is part of a general scheme of evolution, and 
must be, in character, like the spiritual world of thought 
and life of which it is a part; and God and inspiration 
are in the Bible only as God and inspiration are in every- 
thing of a spiritual nature. 



72 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

NEW THEOLOGY GOD A SLAVE. 

To the new theology God is thus in everything. He 
cannot approach man objectively, he rises as it were from 
within, and makes himself known only as man's natural 
evolution makes it possible for God to manifest himself 
in the growing consciousness of man. 

God is never a revelation from without, but a growing 
consciousness from within. God, to the new theology, 
has hidden himself in or has amalgamated himself with 
nature and life, working only outwardly from within and 
never inwardly from without. If this be the truth as to 
God's method of manifestation of himself to man, then 
God is a slave to the world which He has made. More- 
over, all creation is an incarnation of God. God cannot 
ever reveal himself to man from without. If this be the 
case, we must conclude that the god of the new theology 
is not the God of the Bible. What a pitiful, poor fool 
god the new theology has! Such teaching is enough to 
fill the hearts of sane Bible-loving, honest men, with 
righteous indignation and pity. 

It is also clear from what has been said that the god 
of the new theology is not a personal god and free, he 
is a principle of nature, dumb and helpless; indeed he 
is nature and not the Creator. The new theology is in 
this respect, like its twin sister, Christian Science, built 
on the philosophy of pantheism, namely, that God is 
nature, that nature is God, that both are one and an 
evolution. The Christian revelation, that is, the Bible 
generally, teaches that God is the Creator of nature and 
of all life, and that he controls and directs nature in all 
her domain, by fixed laws, unchanging principles, that 
he is not a slave to his creation, but that he is an 
eternal Spirit independent and free, and infinitely greater 
than the worlds which he has made. The new theology 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 73 

has gotten itself into a jumble of contradictions, tangled 
up in a maze or untenable theories, that must result in 
religious suicide. 

Perhaps, what has been said will help us to see why 
the new theology appears to belittle the Bible. They 
are forced by their philosophy of evolution to reject the 
Bible as a unique revelation and specially inspired. 

MAN NOT TRUTH PROGRESSES. 

This school of ethical philosophers has not yet learned 
that it is not truth that is progressing, growing, changing, 
but that it is man who is progressing, growing, changing, 
for good or ill, and that man can advance and keep step 
and stroke with God only as he comprehends and as- 
similates and lives the Truth of God. If he receives and 
obeys Christ he shall live, otherwise he must perish. 

When the new theology tells us that "God cannot 
inspire a book that He inspires only men," we can now 
understand them — why they thus teach. But the aver- 
age man will persist in asking, why cannot God do this 
thing? It is difficult for him to believe that the god of 
this theology is the God of the Bible, that he cannot 
speak to men and command men. He finds it difficult 
to believe that Christ, the "Life-quickening Spirit," can- 
not inspire his own eternal truth. If they should tell us 
that God cannot use a new theology preacher in winning 
sinners to Christ, that God cannot use the preacher who 
never agonizes in prayer for souls, who never requests 
the church to come aside with him and pray for souls, we 
would readily believe him; but when he says, "God 
cannot inspire a book," then we demur, we decline to go 
with him, and we declare that all such teaching is out 
of place in a Christian pulpit, that it is infidelity "pure 
and simple." 



74 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

INSPIRATION AND COLD TYPE. 

If men were ever inspired of God, the product of their 
lives was inspired also. The inspiration of God can be 
transmitted to writing. The truths of the Bible are 
mighty in cold type. The Bible is not made up of paste, 
paper, silk thread and ink, but of divine ideas, life-giving 
and life-quickening truths. The Bible is a spiritual 
book, that is, it is "the Book of God and the god of 
books," the book that Gladstone called "the impreg- 
nable rock," and that Dr. Hastings called "a cube with 
six squares and equal sides, and on whichever side it falls 
it is right side up." 

The inspiration of this marvelous book is a mystery, 
but no more a mystery than is the charging of a cold- 
dead wire with electricity. How do we discover the 
current in the wire? Not by an intellectual idea, so 
much as by the sense of emotion, sensation, feeling. And 
thus it is in our discovery of the Bible. If men have 
learned by the proper use of a certain law, to charge the 
wire with this unknown force in nature we call elec- 
tricity, surely the all-wise God is able to cause his own 
life to possess the Bible and to make it inspired. 

Our Lord was making clear the fact of inspiration 
when he said, "The words I speak unto you they are 
spirit and they are life (John 6: 36). This is why the 
Bible cannot grow old or die, like other books, it is 
charged with the very life of God. The Bible is a 
living spiritual product and not a mere book. We are 
now arriving close to what we mean by inspiration. 
Our Lord did not say that his life could be trans- 
muted to men, only in his vocal utterances, and that 
once his words are put on parchments, or paper, or 
in cold type, they lose their inspiration and become as 
dead. The words, sentences, symbols and types of the 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 75 

Bible, which convey the divine ideas to men, are the 
ordained media through which God's truth only can come, 
for if God speaks to or reveals himself to man he must 
do it in the speech, the language of man. 

INSPIRATION AND MUSIC. 

We have heard folks say that they were inspired by 
music; but that, however, is not the kind of inspiration 
we have in the Bible. Where is the inspiration of music, 
in the musicians mind, or in his instrument, or in both? 
Can we be inspired by music aside from the human 
voice, or the mechanical instrument that conveys it to 
our minds? If the musician can touch his instrument 
and cause it to bring tears to our eyes, why cannot the 
Master Musician — God — touch the written word of God 
and cause it to be inspired? 

The fact is that the inspiration of men is found in 
the things they produce. We read Socrates and we feel 
his massive mind, his mental powers. We read Ruskin 
and we feel his artistic, his aesthetic nature. We read 
Burns and we feel his poetic passion. We read the Bible 
and we feel the throbbing, loving heart of God. God 
has inspired a book. Millions have discovered it. It is 
a scientific fact. 

PROVEN BY ITS PRODUCT. 

If God inspires only men, as the new theology affirms, 
we are justified in asking, who are the men? The trouble 
here is that they are confusing what is commonly called 
inspiration, that is, an exhilarating, stirring feeling, with 
the energizing life of the Holy Spirit of God, who has 
inspired the Bible. These two kinds of inspiration are 
as far apart as the poles, and are distinct in character. 
The Christian experience differs from all other experi- 



76 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

ence, nevertheless, the common inspiration to holy liv- 
ing and service is not the inspiration we find in the Bible. 
Some men are inspired to preach but that does not fully 
illustrate the inspiration which produced the Bible. The 
latter is in the realm of perfection and infallability, the 
former has in it the elements of imperfection. We are 
quickened by the Spirit of God to do our work, the writers 
of the Bible were illumined to produce the Bible, or 
to give an accurate record of God's revelation to men. 
I may be inspired to preach, but not to give a new 
revelation of God to the world. God has no new revela- 
tion to give to this gospel age aside from that given 
in the Bible. The revelation was closed about 2,000 
years ago, the testimony of Joseph Smith, the Morman 
adulterer, and all other fakers to the contrary. If God 
inspires good men in every generation as He did the 
writers of the Bible, then instead of having only one 
we would have numerous Bibles or books that would 
be of great value — new revelations would be so volu- 
minous that the world could not stand up under the 
excitement, or they would be so common that divine 
revelation would probably become a joke to sinful men. 
But God has not so planned it. The revelation has 
been closed, and will so remain until our Lord returns. 

WHY MEN'S BOOKS DIE 

That men are not inspired as were the writers of the 
Bible may be seen by the influence or longevity of their 
books. Men's most popular books have a short day. 
There are thousands of good and great books that once 
had a large sale, but they are dead today. Millions of 
books are lying on shelves as forgotten as if they 
had not been printed — books on science, philosophy, 
social economics, fiction. How quickly truly great books 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 77 

die. Why do men's books perish while the Bible is not 
showing any signs of decrepitude or decay? And more, 
the Bible is as fresh and life-giving to each generation 
as is the coming of the morning sun, or the sweet atmos- 
phere of spring that drives the ice away and brings 
forth the flowers to bloom. The Bible seems to be 
more popular than ever, as the numbers printed are 
increasing yearly. The Bible cannot grow old. How 
can it grow old when it is inbreathed, inspired by the 
life-giving Spirit of God? When God grows old and 
weak and perishes, then and not till then will the Bible 
grow old and die. And those who are renewed by the 
same life-giving Spirit, they too, will never grow old. 
There is no old age in Christ, nor in the Kingdom of 
God, but rather the bloom and beauty of an eternal youth. 
And yet we have doubters who say that "God cannot 
inspire a book." 

IS ADAPTED TO HUMAN NEEDS. 

Further proof of the inspiration of the Bible is seen 
in its adaptability to human needs. Let us illustrate: 
In 1894 I was preaching in Bangor, Maine. At the hotel 
I met a noted infidel. He had been a surgeon in the 
navy in the Civil War, was a very learned man, had 
an immense library, and was widely known in New 
England as a noted infidel. He said: "Do you believe 
in immortality?" I replied that I did. "Well," said 
he, "prove it and I will become a Christian." I told him 
I could do it, and began at once to read the account of 
the resurrection of Christ. But to this he promptly 
objected, saying, "I don't believe that book, give me 
scientific proof." I replied that I would and proceeded 
to give him scientific proof. I said, "The Bible is adapted 
to meet the needs of man's spiritual life. When you are 



78 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

thirsty there is water to slake your thirst, is there not?" 
And the infidel said, "yes." "When you are hungry there 
is food to satisfy your hunger." "Yes," he replied. 
"When you want companionship there are friends to 
meet that need." "Quite right," he answered. "When 
you crave knowledge there are books and a glorious uni- 
verse and in every blade of grass lie lessons yet untold. 
Is not this true?" "That is quite true," replied the 
infidel. "Very well then my friend, man has spiritual 
longings also, for man is an immortal spirit, and there 
must be something, Someone, somewhere to satisfy those 
longings, for how can we long for a thing that does not 
exist? There is no contradiction between man's physical, 
mental and social nature, and the world outside. When 
man wants something its just outside in his environment. 
Man is the counterpart of the universe, the world does 
not seem to be complete without him, nor is he com- 
plete without the world. And can we imagine that there 
is a contradiction between man's highest nature, his 
spiritual nature, and the universe outside? It is scien- 
tifically unthinkable. Therefore God is, future life, 
eternal life is a reality, for man longs for God and the 
immortal life, and he cannot long for that which does 
not exist. And the Bible was given to man to tell him 
about God and Christ and Heaven and eternal life." 

"Where did you read that," said the old man. "I never 
read it anywhere, I thought it out. It is so simple, yet 
is it not unanswerable? Isn't it scientifically correct?" 
The old man was looking down at the floor with a grave 
countenance, and he said, slowly, "I don't think that I 
am ready now to answer your argument," and the con- 
versation ended. 

God's great Book can meet the deepest cravings of the 
human soul. It tells us of Heaven, of Home, sweet, 
sweet, Home. 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 79 

POWER OVER HUMAN MIND. 

The last proof of a scientific nature we would submit 
is the power of the Bible over the human mind. 

Here we may see the moral or ethical and spiritual 
effect of the Bible upon character and conduct, as we 
can see the influence of a powerful drug upon the human 
body. When we see the Bible exert a controlling in- 
fluence upon men, all classes of men, learned and un- 
learned, rich and poor, when we see it take a lawless, 
criminal father or son, and a wayward, outcast woman, 
a confirmed drunkard and thief, and even a murderer and 
change them from bad folks to good, law-abiding, God- 
loving folks, when we see the world's greatest intellects 
acknowledge the authority and power of the Bible, when 
we hear a giant intellect, like Napoleon, say, "O Gali- 
lean, Thou has conquered," when we see a savage, man- 
eating people become civilized under the influence of the 
Bible, and made lovers of God and of men, then we 
know beyond any argument that this remarkable Book 
is undoubtedly the greatest power in the whole world — 
a power greater, more potent, more enduring than that 
of any government, or king upon his throne, and that 
the only possible explanation is that it is inspired of God. 

If it were possible for us to imagine ourselves as 
outsiders and onlookers at our race, observing those 
things that exert the greatest influence upon humanity, 
unbiased, unprejudiced students of the world of men, we 
would soon discover that the mightiest influence in 
moulding the thought of nations, and shaping the des- 
tiny of the world is the Bible. We cannot shut our 
eyes to facts. The Bible is unquestionably the most 
popular book in the world, because it is the most potent 
influence in the world for good. 



80 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

Not a few noted educators in America declare that no 
man is educated who is not a student of the literature, 
history, and teachings of the Bible; nevertheless in our 
institutions we find not a few persons, both students and 
teachers, who are quite ignorant of the only truly great 
Book in all the world. 

In ancient Israel every male child was supposed to 
have a theological education at the age of twelve. The 
Old Testament was the text-book. Do we ask what is 
the secret of the ancient and modern greatness of this 
people, why did they give to the world its laws and 
divinely revealed religion? We answer, because every 
home was a theological seminary for the religious train- 
ing of the child. Eliminating the supernatural from the 
life of Jesus, any scientific student of history would con- 
clude that Jesus Christ could be produced only by the 
Hebrew race. God honored this race above all other 
people because they gave themselves to a study of 
God and his word. This was why God honored the 
Jewish people by using Mary, a member of that race, 
as the medium through whom his beloved Son, Jesus 
Christ, was given as a gift to all mankind. The Old 
Testament produced the Jewish race as a religious race, 
and made them a great people; and this race produced 
the Saviour, Jesus Christ ; and Jesus Christ is the mighti- 
est force for righteousness this world has ever known, 
and will thus continue to be until the end of the pro- 
gram. But back of all this mighty influence we must 
put the Bible. 

We know it usually takes time to produce character 
and true greatness; but who has not seen a bad man 
leap into prominence almost over night, and in some 
cases, a man of ordinary mental power? Who is he? 
Bunyan the ignorant tinker. Who is he? John Newton 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 81 

the converted drunken sailor. Who is he? Moody, the 
obscure shoe clerk. Who is he? Sam Hadley the hope- 
less drunkard. Who is he? "Billy" Sunday, the ball- 
player. But we need not give the names of the most 
noted, we can recall men who today are noble, strong, 
brave, loving and true, who were once on the very lips 
of hell through sin. The secret? Ingersoll's lectures? 
Ha, ha ! You know. You know. Everybody knows that 
it is the Bible. 

Abraham Lincoln used to boast that in his youth he 
read only two books — "the Bible and Bunyan's Pilgrim 
Progress" — and by the way — the two most widely cir- 
culated books in all history. Of course the great martyr- 
President read more books as he advanced in years ; but 
doubtless in these words we find the chief secret of the 
moral greatness of this king among men — the man who 
was used of God to save democracy, to preserve liberty, 
to radiate a light upon all mankind. 

Two boys agreed to read the Bible throughout and 
the one who would accomplish his task first should make 
a gift to the other. Said one of the lads, when he had 
completed Genesis and Exodus, "I could not go further 
without beginning to pray, and not caring to become a 
Christian I stopped reading the Bible." What is the 
secret of the power of this Book over the minds of men? 
Other books do not thus influence men. 

A young man while living in a cabin in a lonely part 
of the Rockies was accustomed to spend his evenings 
reading the Bible. One evening a man, who had twice 
been on trial for murder in the Rockies, entered the 
cabin, and seeing a stranger reading the Bible flew into 
a passion of temper and threatened this young man's life 
if he did not stop reading the Bible. He shouted, "I 
can't endure seeing you read that Book in my presence !" 



82 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

Why did this man cry out against the Bible? Because 
it reminded him of his sin. If it had been the Koran 
or a novel or any other book, he would not have ob- 
jected. The Bible rebuked him, and he cried out against 
it, as did the demons in the presence of Jesus, "What 
have we to do with thee Jesus thou Son of God, art 
thou come to torment us before the time?" 

Ah, men and women, let not the world's subtle phil- 
osophies and its unbelief win you away from the Bible 
as the voice and comfort of God to your hearts. Let 
them say that the Bible is not true, if they will, that 
it is not inspired of God, that scholarship has proven 
it to be only a human, faulty product, made up of fable, 
legend, and untrustworthy history, nevertheless, the 
Bible still stands, as it will ever stand, the one great 
book of God for all time, the book that is its own best 
defence, that can prove to any honest seeker after God 
its own inspiration, that will not cease to speak for God, 
that cannot be explained away, that can ever protect 
the weak, direct the strong, place dimples of joy on 
the cheeks of the sorrowing, bring true happiness to the 
living and peace to the dying, and light up the grave 
with the rainbow of hope. 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 83 

Chapter IV 
INTERNAL EVIDENCES 

CHARACTER OF ITS REVELATION. 

The fact of the inspiration of the Bible is seen in 
the character of the revelation it brings to men. 

God's purpose for man is not to give him today a 
revelation of all the truth there is in his mind and heart, 
but to reveal certain truths as to Creation and Redemp- 
tion, which are unique in their character, differing as 
they do from all other truths, and from all other discus- 
sions of the same subjects found elsewhere. 

TRUTH AND FACT. 

In discussing the question of inspiration, it is neces- 
sary to distinguish between truth and fact. A fact is 
not a truth, but a truth is a fact. Facts are mechanical, 
truths are moral. Facts come largely within the realm 
of mechanics, science, mathematics, while truth comes 
within the realm of conduct, character, ethical, and 
spiritual relationships. That two plus two equals four is 
not a matter of inspiration. That the earth revolves 
around the sun on its axis, making the journey once a 
year, is not an inspired fact. 

ALL TRUTH NOT INSPIRED. 

Further, it should also be remembered that all truth 
is not inspired. It is true that a mother loves her child, 
but that is not a matter of divine inspiration and revela- 
tion. It is true that the United States will soon have 
national prohibition, but this is not a matter of inspira- 
tion. God has put the inspiration, that is, the very life 
of his infinite heart, in only those truths which reveal 



84 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

his glory, wisdom and love, in the realm of the redemp- 
tion of his children, and in the minds of those who were 
divinely chosen to write those truths in the book we 
call the Bible. 

Divine revelation has to do with matters that man, 
alone, never could discover. Inventions, facts of science 
and philosophy, therefore, are not inspired. The ethical 
laws of society, which men see and everywhere declare 
to be right, because they are educated so to view such 
by the laws of God, are matters of divine revelation and 
inspiration. 

All true ethics are a part of divine revelation. 
It is very seriously doubted whether mankind would 
understand the nature of ethics aside from the revealed 
moral laws, as Paul said, "I had not known sin but by 
the law; for I had not known lust, except the law of 
God said, 'Thou shalt not covet'" (Rom. 7: 7). Polyg- 
amy was universal until the inspired revelation of God 
became the moral laws of nations; and just in so far as 
the Bible becomes the standard for ethical conduct to 
that extent monogamy becomes the law in the mar- 
riage relation. We cannot go back on the facts of his- 
tory. It is the inspired word of God that is helping the 
world to be moral and righteous. And here we also find 
the great motive to holy living. God has spoken, he has 
shown us his love and how we ought to live. As Paul 
again says, "The love of Christ constrains us" (2nd Cor. 
5: 14), and as John declares: "We love Him because He 
first loved us" (1st John 4: 19). 

A STRIKING FACT. 

We have already been helped to see that the Bible 
is different in character from all other books, or litera- 
ture, that its revelation is so uniquely a product of the 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 85 

heart of God, so bound up in the life and work of his 
Son Jesus Christ that the record of this lofty truth must 
of necessity be an inspired record. This great body of 
redemption truth would be inspired of God, had it come 
to the world through the person of Satan. 

And this suggests the fact, that the inspiration of the 
Bible was not wholly conditioned upon the character 
of the men through whom God made known his truth 
to the world, but upon the nature, importance, and pur- 
pose of the truth itself. This fact may serve to ex- 
plain why bad men have at times been used in preaching 
the Gospel. We said "at times," it is not usually the 
case. They were used simply and for no other reason 
than they preached the Gospel. The thing they 
were giving forth was the inspired word of God. This 
in itself is a proof of the inspiration of the Bible. If the 
unworthy preacher gives a message on science, phil- 
osophy, or literature, God cannot use that message and 
by it bring about spiritual results. The preaching of 
a bad-living man will to some extent help a community, 
provided he preaches the word of God, while on the 
other hand the preaching of a man who lives right will 
not help a community if he preaches something apart 
from or contrary to the word of God. God's truth as 
recorded in the Bible is so charged with heavenly in- 
spiration that it would produce good results if spoken 
by men, angels, or devils. 

We would not for one moment defend the presence 
of bad men in Christian pulpits. We must ever insist 
that our spiritual leaders be men of God, for God can 
always use a good man as he cannot use a bad man in 
preaching the Gospel. It is his plan that only spirit- 
filled men shall proclaim his redeeming love. Whole- 
some food would nourish our bodies even if served 
6 



86 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

by dogs. We demand clean waiters, but it is the food 
we eat and not the waiters. We demand clean ministers, 
but it is the bread of heaven we eat and which gives 
life to our souls, and not the servants who serve that 
bread. But this you say is commonplace, and we grant 
it; yet it serves to bring clearly before us the fact 
that the Bible revelation is inspired, that it is unique in 
power, in character, and in the purpose for which it has 
been given to the world. We do not say that it was 
once inspired, long ago, and that it has grown old and 
has lost the vigor of its youth; no, we mean to say that 
it never grows old, and that it is inspired today equally 
as it was thousands of years ago. It is tremendously 
alive today. It energizes today. Its an ever-present, 
life possession for each new-born generation. Our chil- 
dren and their children's children will rise up and call 
this Book blessed. Everyone who reads this wonderful 
Book feels that it is a special message directly for him. 
Its revelation sweeps into each soul as direct from 
Heaven, and no power can shake out that sweet convic- 
tion. As Prof. Dyson Hague, M.A., has aptly put it: 
"The Bible is inspiring, because inspired; inspired be- 
cause inspiring." 

IS THE WORD OF GOD 

The character of the Bible is such that we cannot 
truthfully say, it only contains the word of God, that 
it is not throughout the word of God, that it only gives 
glimpses here and there of God's truth. When Paul said 
to Timothy that "All scripture is given by inspiration 
of God" (2nd Tim. 3: 16), he meant of course, the Old 
Testament practically as it is today. Paul did not say 
that "All scripture inspired of God is profitable," as the 
revised version has it, in the sense that part of the Old 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 87 

Testament is inspired, and part of it is not inspired, and 
as is sometimes claimed by those new theology apos- 
tates who try to deny the inspiration of the Old Testa- 
ment. Paul was here saying, in a way, that the meaning 
of his words cannot be gainsayed, in the clearest possible 
language, that the Old Testament is inspired. "All scrip- 
ture inspired of God" includes all the Old Testament, for 
all the Old Testament was viewed by Paul as the in- 
spired word of God. Peter said, in speaking of the Old 
Testament: "For no prophesy ever came by the will 
of man; but man spake from God being moved by the 
Holy Spirit" (2nd Pet. 1: 21). Peter here refers to 
the whole of the Old Testament as we have it today. 

ORIGINATED WITH GOD. 

In concluding this discussion on the character of the 
revelation, the Bible brings to men, we would say that 
from any conceivable standpoint there is no way that 
we can ascribe this book, as having originated, or as 
having been created by men. No true science of anthro- 
pology, psychology, or of history will for one moment 
assert that the Bible is a human product only, giving the 
record of the religious experiences of the Hebrew race. 
The redeemed world testifies, as men everywhere read 
this Book, that it has come down from heaven, and not 
up from earth, that it is a spiritual message out from the 
world of Spirit, a revelation of God's plan for the ages. 

There are other internal evidences of the inspiration 
of the Bible which should not be overlooked. 

TESTIMONY OF JESUS. 

We have the testimony of Jesus Christ. It should 
be said that this is one of the most important, as a Chris- 
tian views the subject, if not as any honest student must 



88 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

view it. After all that can be said, the fact remains 
that Jesus Christ is the supreme wonder of the Book. He 
is the heart of the Bible as he is of history. All the 
Old Testament types and much of its prophesies are ful- 
filled in Him. Christ is the key to the Old Testament; 
he only can make clear its purposes; as he is the one 
great theme of the New Testament. No Jew can prop- 
erly study his ov/n race if he rejects the Messiahship of 
Jesus. No historian can write a history of the world 
if he does not put Christ at its center. All history 
points back to him, as all history pointed forward to 
him. Christ is the key to the interpretation of history, 
as he is to the interpretation of the Old and the New 
Testament. 

Jesus Christ is not only the great subject of the Bible, 
he is the great subject of humanity. Long after this 
terrible war will have been ended and forgotten, Christ 
the Man Incarnate, the Man of Calvary and the Open 
Grave, will loom in the vision and thought of men larger 
than ever before. 

"Jesus Christ is the great Fact of history, but He is 
more; he is the great Force of history. He is more 
still, he is the great Future of history. It can be truly 
said of the Bible, as it will be of the future of the race, 
that "The glory of God doth lighten it and the Lamb 
is the Light thereof." Jesus Christ is the Hope of the 
world, the Center of the world's desire, the Arch that 
spans history, the Keystone of prophesy, the Revealer, 
the Redeemer, the Saviour, the Risen, the Reigning, 
the Coming Lord and King. So long as the Bible 
is read, so long will it draw the hearts of men to Christ 
as a magnet, and so long will men stand for it, live for it, 
die for it." 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 89 

What did Jesus say about the Old Testament? If he 
gave his endorsement to the* Jewish Scriptures, that to 
a Christian should be the end of all argument. What 
did Jesus say? 

We find that Jesus Christ endorsed Moses, the Psalms, 
and the prophets. He declared that they all wrote of 
him. By Moses he meant the pentateuch, the first five 
books of the Bible. Jesus spent his ministry, largely, 
in teaching, interpreting, and enforcing the Old Testa- 
ment. He was pre-eminently a Bible preacher. The 
new theology advocates seem to spend much of their 
time criticising the Old Testament, belittling it, and yet 
they say that Jesus is Lord. What inconsistency, what 
humbug! Has the Devil ever had a more sure-enough 
bunch of idiots than these men? Nevertheless, they pose 
as honest seekers after truth. They say, "These old 
theology folks are narrow, unlearned, ignorant, etc.'" 
Well, possibly some of them are, but they are not a 
lot of intellectual tricksters. They are at least con- 
sistent. They accept a premise and go to its conclu- 
sion. They do not say, as the new theology says that 
Jesus Christ was the Incarnate Son, or God manifest in 
flesh, and then virtually throw it into the teeth of Christ 
that he was an ignoramus or a palpable liar. 

Jesus Christ endorsed the Old Testament and that is 
sufficient; he endorsed those parts of the Old Testa- 
ment which contain the miraculous element, and which 
he knew that men would deny. He endorsed the ac- 
count of the miracle of the manna in the desert and said 
that this manna was a type of Himself, of the true bread 
which came down from heaven, and giveth life unto the 
world (John 6: 32-35). 

Jesus Christ endorsed the account of Jacob's ladder; 
He said that this was a type of His second coming. 



90 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

Nathaniel had just accepted Jesus as Messiah and Son 
of God, and so confessed Him. The heart of the Master 
was moved. It seems that nothing so pleased Christ 
like an acknowledgement of his diety, his divine son- 
ship. It was because Peter declared him to be the Son 
of God and King of Israel that Jesus made him the 
chief spokesman, the rock, the historical character upon 
whose work on Pentecost the Church was established. 
It touches the heart of Jesus Christ to say to him, "Thou 
art the Son of God." Try it, my friend, and watch for 
results. Well, Nathaniel did this, and Jesus honored 
him for it in this way : He gave him a revelation of his 
second coming, and interpreted to him the significance 
of Jacob's ladder on which angels ascended and de- 
scended. Jesus said to Nathaniel, "Hereafter ye shall 
see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and 
descending upon the Son of Man (John 1: 51). 

We have also the testimony of Jesus to the ancient 
cities of Sodom and Gomorroh (Matt. 10: 15). 

And we have His endorsement of the historicity of the 
account of Jonah and the whale. Jesus declares in the 
face of an ignorant, scoffing world, that this miracle was 
one of the types which God designed in history should 
pre-figure the burial and resurrection of his Son. The 
type was a miracle, because its ante-type or its historical 
fulfillment was a miracle. The Jews then as now, were 
skeptical, as to the deity of Jesus, hence they asked for 
a sign of his Messiahship ; but Jesus told them that, "No 
sign would be given them except the sign of the prophet 
Jonas" (Luke 11 : 29-30). "And as Jonah was three days 
and three nights in the whale's belly," or as the twen- 
tieth century New Testament has it, "For just as Jonah 
was inside the sea monster three days and three nights, 
so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 91 

in the heart of the earth" (Matt. 12: 40). What better 
sign could they have than this, of the divine char- 
acter of Jesus, the thing which told them of his resur- 
rection. 

Jesus Christ endorsed the miracle of the brazen ser- 
pent and Israel's healing by looking thereto, declaring 
that this miracle was a type of his Cross and its healing 
power (John 3: 14-15). 

Numerous other illustrations might be submitted show- 
ing clearly how our Lord viewed the Old Testament 
as the word of God. He referred to the ancient Scrip- 
tures over and over again as an endorsement of his own 
character and mission. The Old Testament he used as 
the warp and woof of his teachings. To reject the Old 
Testament is to reject Jesus Christ, and to reject him 
is likewise a rejection of the Old Testament. 

INFIDEL THEOLOGY. 

But what have we here on our hands in many of our 
churches? We have a new infidel theology, made in 
Germany, which denies the inspiration of both Old and 
New Testament. They call it the new theology, but it 
is old, very old, older than the Gospel; it originated in 
the Garden of Eden, when Satan said, reject the counsel 
of God, eat it, thou shalt not surely die. The new Ger- 
man-made theology, refers to the Old Testament 
miracles as myths, legends, which contain spiritual les- 
sons, while Jesus Christ referred to these things as 
historical, as he did to all the Old Testament. 

The conflict that this new theology, this old, rehashed 
Unitarianism has brought into the churches, is threaten- 
ing their very existence. It is not a conflict with Mc- 
Pherson, and other men, who are putting their life in the 
breach, made by these apostates, to rally the slumbering 



92 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

forces of the churches everywhere, to fight this thing 
and drive it back to Germany from whence it came, 
and thus save evangelical Christianity for America and 
the world. No it is not primarily that, but it is essen- 
tially a conflict against Jesus Christ, the Author of 
Salvation, the Founder of Christianity. Of course, these 
new theology men do not say this, viz., that they are 
fighting Jesus Christ. 

With soft, smooth, oily words from John D. Rocke- 
feller, Jr., and the new theology men generally, they 
would deny our contention. But don't be deceived. Here 
is their purpose: To reject Jesus Christ as the Son of 
God ; to make him appear to the world as a human being 
only, a good man, a preacher of righteousness. Don't let 
any new theology advocate deceive you as to this. Our 
battle cry in an age of unbelief is for the divine char- 
acter work and authority of the eternal Son of God. Our 
mission today is to expose and destroy this church- 
killing new theology propaganda. It can be defeated. 
It should and it must be defeated. This German invasion, 
of the sacred temples of God here in America, is more 
serious than the invasion by a German army. In the 
latter case they would ravish our women and maim 
our children and kill our soldiers, and rob and ruin our 
country. And is there any greater crime than this? 
Great God! Yes, even blacker than this— is the crime 
of rejecting the word of God for body and soul, and 
destroying the foundations of our civilization, and turn- 
ing the clock of time back to the age of barbarism, 
hopelessness, and despair! 

BASIS OF CHURCH UNION? 

The great need of this hour is not for church union, 
though we should believe in the unity of the one true 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 93 

Church of Christ, but to destroy the new theology and 
drive it from our theological seminaries and churches. 
We welcome church unity on the New Testament basis. 
It will never come by righting baptism as Rockefeller, Jr., 
and some others of the new theology apostacy are doing. 
It will come by addition more than by subtraction. Mr. 
Rockefeller's views, if accepted, would divide the Baptists 
and other evangelical bodies and result in adding further 
schism to the Body of Christ. When Christians are 
ready to take the New Testament only as a basis of unity 
then we will get it and not till then. But the great call 
today is to defeat and destroy the new theology move- 
ment in all our denominations. 

We have no fear for the Bible, what we fear is the 
influence of the money power in the hands of the few, 
and these few making war with a German-made theology 
on evangelical religion and the inspiration of the Bible. 
We fear for the affect of this propaganda on the l'fe of 
the coming generation, though we know its falsity must 
in due time be made manifest to all men. We know 
that God's truth must ultimately win, and because we 
know this we serve notice that the enemies of Christ will 
be destroyed, that some day over their forgotten dust, 
the fitting epitaph would be: 

"O Galilean Thou Hast Conquered." 

ITS PLAN. 

We have come now to the last proof we would give 
as to the inspiration of the Bible, namely, its unity, its 
plan. 

There is a plan back of the Bible. This Book sticks to- 
gether like a building, or better, like the human body. 
Back of all the varied materials out of which the Bible 
has been made, there is a plan drawn up by the great 
Architect. There is a Mind back of the Bible. 



94 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

Go to yonder vacant lot and you will find much mate- 
rial, there is brick and mortar and stone and lumber. 
What does it mean? A building is to be erected there. 
If we go back one year later, we will find a magnificent 
building, that all those disconnected materials have been 
united together in one solid, beautiful structure, making 
clear that there was back of this an architect and a plan. 

So it is with the Bible. 

Anyone who has studied the history and origin of 
the Bible must be struck with its formation. "That it 
ever was a book, and is today the Book of the world 
is really a literary miracle. There never was any order 
given to any man to plan the Bible, nor was there any 
concerted plan give to any body of men to write the 
Bible. The way the Bible came to be is one of the great 
mysteries. One man wrote in Arabia, another in Syria, 
a third in Palestine, another in Greece and Italy; and 
some wrote hundreds of years after or before the others, 
and the first part was written about sixteen hundred 
years before the last man who wrote was born. 

Men's books are not made that way. A man thinks 
it out, gathers his material, and within a few years his 
book is completed. But the creation of the Bible covers 
a span of sixty generations, and its creation enlarges our 
conception of the patience and wisdom of God. Slowly 
the great Book grew, here a little, there a little, and at 
last it came forth in its completeness before the world. 
And so the New Testament as the Old grew without 
any pre-arranged plan. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John 
did not consult one another, as neither did Paul and 
Peter and James and John. They wrote as they felt 
the need, and the marvelous unity of the New Testa- 
ment is the result. The Bible is a marvel; it is trans- 
cendental; it is the miracle of all literature in its forma- 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 95 

tion; and yet in it we have perfect harmony, order, 
sequence throughout." The explanation? God! 

"The Bible is a collection of sixty-six books; it is a 
library, written by thirty or forty different authors, in 
three different languages, upon totally different topics, 
under different circumstances, and yet it is a unit. It 
is made up of history, biography, theology, poetry, 
prophecy, philosophy, jurisprudence, geneology, ethnol- 
ogy, narrative of adventure, travel of romantic interest, 
and yet it is a unit, the one great idea of redemption for 
men permeates it throughout." The explanation? God! 

"We never think of it now as sixty-six books, but one 
book. Why does the Bible live? Why is it known and 
loved in every land? The Germans know, with few ex- 
ceptions, only German authors. The English know, with 
few exceptions, only English authors. And only a few 
writers as Dante, Goethe, Shakespeare have overleaped 
national boundaries and become known by other coun- 
tries. But the Bible has overleaped the boundaries of 
all nationality and time. It was written in a language 
that is now dead, and by men who died thousands of 
years ago, yet it is the most vital and widely circulated 
book in the world." The explanation? God! 

The plan and unity of the Bible are proof of its in- 
spiration. 

If men have any doubt as to the truth of the New 
Testament, let them study the promise by Jesus Christ 
of the coming of the Holy Spirit, and how that promise 
was fulfilled after His departure, exactly as he had 
foretold. 

READ THE BIBLE. 

We need say no more— except, read the Book. As Sir 
Walter Scott once said: "In the whole world it is The 



96 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

Book ; all other books are mere leaves, fragments." "Read 
and obey this universal Book — the eternal Book. It is 
the one great commanding Voice! All other voices are 
in comparison as dying whispers. "Read this Book 
which is unapproachable in grandeur, and as high above 
all other books as heaven is above earth, as the Son of 
God is above the sons of men. Do not read it as you 
read other books, as you would study or analyze a book 
in literature or science. No. Read this Book with be- 
coming reverence. Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, 
for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 
Ask the Holy Spirit who gave it to help you. Read this 
Book — "supernatural in origin; inexpressible in value; 
infinite in scope ; divine in authorship ; though human in 
penmanship; regenerative in power; infallible in author- 
ity; personal in application; inspired in totality." Read 
this Book, and when the loved ones gather to bid 
farewell, we shall then find a comfort that no language 
can express, for this is the Book which assures the Saints 
that in Heaven there are no broken ties, no parting, no 
farewells. 



BOOK NO. 3 



The New and Old Theology 

and 
The Cross of Christ 



SCRIPTURE READING. 

"And you know that Christ appeared to take away sins ; 
and in him sin has no place. (1st John 3:5) He was 
offered up once for all, to bare away the sins of many, 
Heb. 9:28. And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, 
and not for ours only, but for those of the whole world 
besides. 1st John 2:2. For God set him forth before 
the world, to be, by the shedding of his blood, a means 
of reconciliation through faith. Rom. 3 :25. Here is the 
Lamb of God who is to take away the sin of the world. 
John 3 :29. Just as the Son of Man came, not to be served 
but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. 
Matt. 20:28. Him who never knew sin, God made him 
to be sin on our behalf, so that we through union v/ith 
him, might become the righteousness of God. 2nd Cor. 
5:21. And it is the fulfillment of the will of God that 
we have been purified by the sacrifice, once and for all, 
of the blood of Jesus Christ." Heb. 10:10. 



98 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

Chapter I 
NEW THEOLOGY CLAIM 

At the outset let it be stated in the words of Professor 
Franklin Johnson that "These passages are an example 
of the almost countless declarations in God's word of 
a substitutionary atonement. If we reject the doctrine 
we do it at our peril. Any speculation which sets itself 
against this mighty current of revelation flowing through 
the Bible is destined to be swept away," as the great 
Niagara sweeps away a dust cloud. 

We are discussing The New and The Old Theology 
and The Cross of Christ. The battle of modern times 
between unbelief and faith, between philosophy and the 
Bible, is being fought around the Cross. The new 
speculative theology is attacking the New Testament 
teachings regarding the Cross, and it is the duty of those 
who believe the Bible to defend the gospel. To this high 
service we are as truly called today as Paul was in his 
day. 

We are not discussing a popular doctrine. The daily 
papers give small space to this conflict against error. 
The university faculties are not interested in the open 
discussion of it. The "offense of the Cross" has not 
ceased. Philosophers still wag their heads and smile at 
salvation through the blood of Christ. But multitudes 
are still interested to know the truth. Most men 
still believe that this great truth will not down, that sal- 
vation through the blood of Christ is not too coarse for 
them, and that it is still the only power that can save. 
We cannot apologize, therefore, for this message. We 
glory in the Cross of Christ. 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 99 

The new theologians claim that there is no such thing 
as atonement by the blood of Christ. They reject the 
words atonement, substitution, sin-bearer, propitiation. 
They say we are saved by our own character, aided by 
the example of Christ. They say it is ideas that save 
men and not the very life of God. They say the only 
significance to the death of Christ is that God is for- 
bearing and loving towards men. The new theologians 
declare that all men are alike the children of God. Their 
appeal to men is "Be good, be good, strive to be your 
best self, true to your own ideas of God." They say, 
"Human nature is divine, that it is not sinful, only as 
we make it sinful, that man by nature is not alienated 
from God by sin, that man has never fallen, that he is 
always rising, advancing, that he can save himself by 
morally developing his own character." 

The trouble with this kind of preaching is, it cannot 
convert anybody to anything, except to an idea. This 
thing is like the thistle-down, it has no propagating life 
in it. 

If we will go to any church where the new theology 
is lectured about and hear a person get up in meeting and 
say, "I was made a Christian here under the pastor's 
lecture last Sunday," then we shall take this all back, and 
apologize to the new theology lecturer. We shall. But 
we do not believe for one moment that a sinner ever was 
or ever will be changed into holiness under the preach- 
ing of the new theology, "goose song." 

The new theology preachers and theologians say that 
the "moral influence theory" explains all there is in the 
death of Christ. What they mean by that is that Jesus 
exerts a good influence on men by his death. Well, 
so does every martyr exert a good influence who dies for 
righteousness sake. If the author of this message were 



100 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

crucified because he dared to tell the truth, many would 
say, "Well, truly, he was a good man, he was a prophet." 
But that feeling would not redeem from sin and death, 
would it? No, a thousand times no. True, it would exert 
a good influence, it would reveal great love, but it would 
not redeem from sin. And precisely so it is with Christ, 
if that was all he did by his death, to exert a good 
influence upon men, to reveal that he was true to his 
principles, that in itself would never save this sin-cursed 
world. If the "moral influence theory" is the true mean- 
ing of the death of Christ, then we may look to the 
martyrs for salvation as hopefully as we may look to 
Christ. The new theology would whittle the Cross away 
until we see in it only a good example of patient, suffering 
love. And our self-sacrificing mothers and grandmothers 
revealed in character to this world the same sort of a 
cross. Thus the new theology practically teaches that the 
only difference between our cross and the Cross of Christ 
is one of degree. Christ, they say, being purer, holier, 
revealed more of the love of God than we reveal, but 
the revelation is the same in character. 

We have given a true statement of the teaching of 
the new theology apostacy, or as they say, " the mod- 
ern point of view of religion," as to our Lord's death. 
We must be fair to our erring brethren for 
we are now discussing one of the most momentous ques- 
tions in the religious world. We must get at the facts. 
We must hold fast the truth about the death of Christ. 
Everything hinges on this truth. Why did he die? What 
does it all mean? Let us see. 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 101 

Chapter II 
OLD THEOLOGY 

We shall see that the old theology is constructed on the 
word of God. The Bible teaches that our Lord died as 
a substitute for man, that in his death he offered himself 
up as an "atoning sacrifice" to God for the sins of the 
entire human family — all the sins that have been com- 
mitted from Adam to the present time, and that ever will 
be committed. That is what God's word teaches, and 
what we believe. We believe that this was a divine, 
a supernatural work, therefore, a perfect work. We 
believe that the "atoning sacrifice" was an unveil- 
ing of the heart of God, that by it we know the kind of 
God we have, as by it also we know the kind of men 
we are, our need, our worth, and the depths to which 
man by sin has fallen. 

In the words of Dr. Kelley of Johns Hopkins we would 
say : "We believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, with- 
out human father, was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born 
of the Virgin Mary, and lived in a human body for the 
purpose of dying on the 'accursed tree/ to redeem man 
from the dominion and power of Satan, sin and death. 

"We believe that all men are by nature sinners, alien- 
ated from God, utterly lost, and that the Son of God 
came to seek and save by his atoning death this lost race 
of men, that in his death he paid the infinite penalty of 
the sin and guilt of the whole world. 

"The old theology further claims that he who thus 
receives the Lord Jesus as his Saviour is born again 
spiritually, that he is now one body with Christ, the 
Head, and will live with him forever. 



102 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

"We believe that no man is saved by his own good 
works, by the cultivation of his own character, that good 
works are the result of salvation, or of being in a saved 
state, that guilty sinners are saved only through faith, 
on the basis of the finished work of Christ in man's 
behalf." 

The old theology further teaches that sin did not take 
God by surprise, that in eternity the Cross was planned, 
that Jesus Christ was "the Lamb that has been sacrificed 
from the foundation of the world," (Rev. 13:8) that 
Adam's fall brought into our race the awful fact of sin 
and death, as God forewarned it would do, and that Jesus 
Christ, as the perfect Representative of both God and 
man, came to redeem man from all the consequences of 
his sin. And we believe that the momentous question 
now for man to decide is, will he accept Christ and live, 
or will he reject Christ and die. 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 103 

Chapter III 

PRINCIPAL OBJECTIONS 

But to this real gospel we hear objections from the 
new theology. Let us state some of their objections 
against salvation by grace through the "atoning sacrifice" 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Many persons who have only 
a superficial knowledge of the Bible, and who want an 
easier way than the way of the Cross, are easily led astray 
by these objections. The Devil has a way of making 
error appear plausible. Let us examine their objections 
to the atonement of Christ. 

OBJECTION 1 

"ATONEMENT NOT FOUND IN NEW TESTAMENT." 

They say, "The word atonement is not found in the 
New Testament." A Union Theological Seminary student 
was heard to boast of this in his pulpit. He said, "Find it 
in the New Testament if you can." Even the late Dr. W. 
N. Clark, who of course was supposed to be a great 
theologian — a new theology one — said before his students 
the same thing: "The word atonement is not found in 
the New Testament," the inference is, if the word is not 
found there the fact of the atonement is not there. This 
objection is captious, tricky, if not absurd. We open the 
Twentieth Century New Testament and in the first 
epistle of John, 2 :2, we find these words : "And he is the 
atoning sacrifice for our sins ; and not for ours only, but 
for those of the whole world besides." 

We ought to know that when the new theology 
teachers make a statement as to what the Bible says it 
is not safe nor wise to believe it, until we have first 



104 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

made an investigation, for these men are always mis- 
representing the Bible. It is astonishing how ignorant 
these men are of the Bible. And why? Because they 
are always studying and preaching what other men think 
about the Bible and not what the Bible says of itself. 
The Bible is its own interpreter. As Paul says, to know 
the Bible we must "explain spiritual things in spiritual 
words" (1st Corn. 2:13), not compare Dr. Jones with 
Dr. Smith and Emerson with Spencer, and Darwin with 
Haeckel. 

But to come back, even if the word atonement were 
not in the New Testament we have the fact of atone- 
ment plainly stated. And a fact revealed is the important 
thing. Here are some of the passages without regard to 
special order: "His tasting of death should ... be 
on behalf of all mankind." "Him who never knew sin 
God made to be sin on our behalf." "We were reconciled 
to God through the death of his Son." "Thou art worthy 
to take the book and break the seals, for thou wast sacri- 
ficed and with thy blood thou didst buy us back for God, 
men of every tribe, and language, and people, and na- 
tion." "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he 
was bruised for our iniquities." "For the Son of Man 
came, not to be served, but to serve and give his life as 
a ransom for many." 

Would not the average man conclude that these 
passages clearly reveal that Jesus died as man's 
substitute, and made atonement for men? Do they 
not all seem to be clearly condensed in these words, 
"And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins," (1st John 
2:2). If these passages were submitted to a jury for a 
verdict as to what they teach, their verdict would be 
unanimous that Jesus Christ made an atonement for sin 
by his death on the Cross. We have no need to show 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 105 

what the New Testament writers say the result of the 
atonement is. Note one reference only, — Paul said that 
it has brought about the reconciliation of God to 
man, and this should be cause for great rejoicing. In it 
God is now reconciled to man in Christ, and by the atone- 
ment man may now become reconciled to God. 
(Romans.) 

OBJECTION 2 

"SIN AND GUILT NOT TRANSFERABLE." 

Here is another objection : They say that "sin and guilt 
are not transferable." A widely known new theology 
teacher used to try to make much of this in his class- 
room. This is one of the popular objections ad- 
vanced by the new theology in the effort to prove that 
Christ did not offer himself as an "atoning sacrifice" to 
God. This objection, also, is captious. It presents a 
feeble effort to dodge the real issue involved in our 
Lord's death. It is an effort to oppose revelation by 
reason and not the highest type of reason at that. 

We know that sin and guilt are not transferable as be- 
tween men. Men may be sharers of the sin and guilt of 
others. But it is not fair to compare the relation that 
obtains between men to the relation that existed between 
Christ and men. There are no existing human relations 
by which we can wholly illustrate the latter, for Christ 
was God, and Christ could do a work that men could not 
do in their relations to each other. We should ever keep 
this fact before us. The new theology is at war against 
the power or ability of God to do by the death of Christ 
a certain work for man. Moreover, these men assume 
to be capable judges as to what God is able or not able 
to do. The Scriptures say that Christ died as a substi- 
tute for man. The new theology advocates say that Christ 



106 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

could not do this. Now the question is, whom shall we 
believe? Their assumption is a most brazen one, as it is 
a denial of the wisdom and power of God. 

In our Lord's death for mankind we know that he 
was not actually guilty of the sins of others, but he 
judicially assumed the sin and guilt of men; thus in his 
death sin and guilt were in this sense transferred. This 
is what the Apostle Peter means when he says : "And he 
Himself carried our sins in his own body to the Cross" 
(1st Peter 2:24). The relation Jesus Christ sustained 
to our race and to God was a judicial and official relation, 
that is, a relation within the realm of law. He stood as 
the Representative of both God and man. Sin trans- 
gressed God's law, the penalty of which is death. Jesus 
as the Representative of man took this penalty upon him- 
self and offered himself up to God as man's Substitute, 
man's Sin-bearer. He lifted the penalty, and man is thus 
given an opportunity to go free from it by accepting 
Christ. As Jesus himself said, "He gave his life as a 
ransom for many" (Matt. 20:28). God was well pleased 
with this redeeming work, for it was prompted by his 
own eternal love. Our sin and guilt, therefore, were 
judicially transferred to Christ. He could not take the 
penalty of one without taking the penalty of the other. 
And now, the soul that accepts Christ God cannot reckon 
as guilty, but looks upon such a one as pardoned, ac- 
quitted, justified, that is reckoned as sinless, set free from 
sin. God can never again have any claim against that 
one on account of past sins. 

Jesus Christ in his death dealt effectually with sin and 
guilt. Sin and guilt are inseparable. When man is saved 
through the merits of Christ he loses his sense of guilt 
instantaneously as thousands can witness. The saved 
can now hold up their heads in society. Formerly they 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 107 

were bowed by the burden of guilt, as David said, "Mine 
iniquities have taken hold on me so that I am not able 
to look up"; (Ps. 40:12) but now they look up, and sing 
because of the new consciousness of freedom from sin 
and guilt. They remember their past sins, but the guilt 
has gone. Paul says that "There is therefore now no 
condemnation for those who are in union with Christ 
Jesus" (Rom. 8:1). No condemnation from without, nor 
from within, conscience is now at rest. Guilt has gone. 
Why did guilt depart when the soul accepted Jesus as 
Redeemer and Lord? The answer is clear. The Holy 
Spirit applied the merits of Christ's atoning death to the 
soul, hence sin and guilt must depart, for the soul is 
now living in a new element of Spirit and is covered by 
the atoning blood. God has given the saved a new sense, 
a sense of freedom from the power, dominion, and guilt 
of sin. So we see that sin and guilt were judicially trans- 
ferred to Christ and that in his death he made provision 
for their removal. If this be not the case how account 
for the testimony of Christian experience to this very 
thing? Remember that guilt is not merely memory. A 
man remembers his sin, but his sense of guilt has gone 
since he came to Christ. The late Dr. W. N. Clark de- 
fined guilt as, "the consciousness of the fact that you are 
the man who did the deed"; but we have seen that 
memory is still active, yet the sense of guilt has gone. 
Guilt is more than memory, and God provided for its 
removal with sin in the glorious death of his Son. 
Blessed be his holy name. 

OBJECTION 3 

"IT IS IMMORAL." 

Another objection by the new theology to our Lord's 
"atoning sacrifice" is that, "it is immoral." Jesus suf- 



108 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

fered in man's place and they call this "immoral." Jesus 
suffered that man might not suffer and they call this 
"immoral." This is a claim that one person cannot mor- 
ally suffer for another. If man by suffering can prevent 
others from suffering should not this be viewed as the 
most exalted moral service? But if this is immorality, 
then the noblest men and women who ever lived are the 
most immoral. The husband is immoral when he suffers 
in covering over the sins of his wife and thus shields her 
from the condemnation of society; and the wife is im- 
moral when she similarly protects her wayward hus- 
band. The mother is immoral when she suffers in order 
that her child may not suffer. The patriot is immoral 
when he dies for his country. If the atonement is im- 
moral then we can say that sympathy is immoral. Men 
often sympathize for those who deserve no sympathy, as 
they often suffer for those who are undeserving. And 
are we to call all this immoral? If the element of vica- 
rious and substitutionary suffering were taken out of 
the world, man would be changed into a beast and love 
would perish. Further, it is the teaching of Christ's re- 
deeming death that has produced in history, during the 
last nineteen hundred years the highest type of morality. 
If the result of the teaching of the atonement is the high- 
est morality, how can the doctrine be immoral? 

OBJECTION 4 

"A LEGAL GOSPEL." 

There is still another objection by the new theology 
advocates to the fact of the atonement, and which must 
not be overlooked. They say that this is "a legal gospel." 
Well, thank God it is, but it is more. Let us get at the 
facts, and not spend time quarreling over words. We 
are living in a moral universe, a universe of law, and 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 109 

every inch of space is crammed full of law. Man was 
made under a moral government, and he always has and 
always will live under that government, because he will 
ever be a subject, though men may not always see this, 
and must never cease to obey God. Jesus Christ also, 
while in the flesh, lived under and obeyed perfectly this 
government of God. The only class of men who object 
to law, to government, are anarchists. But why should 
men object to the legal aspect of our Lord's death, when 
it is known that he was here among men as the Repre- 
sentative of both God and man, in an official capacity, 
to do a judicial and redeeming work? Moreover, is it fair 
to assume that he could not do this work in other than a 
harsh, mechanical, arbitrary way? It should not be for- 
gotten that God's law reveals both his wisdom and his 
love. Now Jesus Christ came to lift from men the penalty 
of that broken law, which penalty is death, and the new 
theology calls that, in a sort of slurring or disparaging 
manner, "a legal gospel." If a human being, in harmony 
with law, could give his life to redeem another life from 
death would we look upon his heroism as a merely legal 
act, or would we not rather view it as a service of self- 
sacrificing love? Let them call it legal if they will, for 
so it was, yet the death of Christ was an act of incom- 
parable love. 

Jesus Christ did a work for man, by his death, that 
man could not do for himself. In it we see the strong 
stooping to succor the weak, the helpless, the undone. 
It is the infinite passion in the heart of Jesus Christ on 
the Cross that fires the souls of men into a flame of love 
and devotion to him. Men forget the legal and see in 
this eternal heart throb one whom they lovingly worship 
and adore. They sing, "He died for me, he died for me," 



110 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

and because he died we shall not die, but live and 
serve and love and reign with him. Legality? Yes, but 
O what love ! What love ! 

LOVE DISPLAYED BY ATONEMENT. 

We have removed the objections of the new theology 
apostacy to the "atoning sacrifice" of Christ, and in so do- 
ing have not minimized but rather exalted the love of 
God. Divine love is never slighted nor insulted when we 
tell the truth. What we tried to make clear is, that the 
surface and superficial view of our Lord's death is inade- 
quate, unscriptural, hence untrue. To hold to this theory, 
"the moral influence theory," as Professor Franklin John- 
son says, "would be to shrivel the ocean to the dimensions 
of a pond and bid the admiral sail his navies on it, or to 
blot out all the worlds save those of the solar system and 
bid the astronomer enlarge his science." And Dr. Johnson 
further says, "An atonement of infinite cost, flowing from 
infinite love, procuring deliverance from infinite loss, 
melts the coldest heart and inflames the warmest." And 
he adds, "The moral influence theory makes the death 
of Christ spectacular, a feeble effort to display the love 
of God rather than an offering to God necessary for the 
salvation of men. It struggles in vain to find a worthy 
reason for the awful sacrifice. Hence, this theory may 
be charged with essential immorality. In any case, the 
death of Christ if interpreted in this manner will not 
prove to be the power of God unto salvation." 

When the atonement is seen as God has so plainly set 
it forth in his word, the mind is gripped, the conscience 
is aroused, the will is subdued, and the heart and life are 
won to complete obedience. The soul finds rest. Here, 
in the perfect work of Christ, we have a real, vital, con- 
quering, transforming power. And the new theology 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 111 

which rejects this mighty work of God for man is the 
most colossal delusion of all times. As John Wesley 
truly said : "It is the spawn of hell." 

RESULTS OF APOSTACY. 

And now, under the influence of such preaching, do 
we wonder that many of our churches have become help- 
less ethical clubs, resorting to every conceivable trick 
and advertising device to interest the people? Do we 
wonder that this sort of teaching has driven many of 
the pulpits out of the soul-winning business, has created 
a dislike for evangelists, and evangelical truth, and has 
brought upon us such a state of division and strife that 
the unity and harmony of the Body of Christ are seriously 
threatened everywhere ? Instead of bringing the churches 
together in a more real and vital fellowship, the new 
theology is destroying the unity the churches formerly 
enjoyed. Unity, harmony, and progress are only pos- 
sible on the basis of our Lord's "atoning sacrifice." If 
the new theology advocates will not join hands with 
Christ's followers around the Cross, then we must say 
to them, with tears in our eyes, and with great sorrow 
in our hearts, we cannot hold fellowship with that which 
is anti-Christ. 

We know that the Holy Spirit witnesses only with 
the atoning blood. When we honour that blood we 
know that God will save to the uttermost. It is when 
we can truly say, "Who loved me and gave himself for 
me" (Gal. 2:20) that the shout of hallelujah is in the 
soul. It is a foretaste of glory to be able to say, "He 
died for me." Do we not see it now more clearly than 
ever before? Come and say it now in your heart, *'He 
died for me." "Who loved me and gave himself for 
me." Come and praise Him! The glory of his eternal 



112 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

love is now breaking over our vision as we view his lovely 
Cross. If his death was not what the Bible says it was, 
then it was an unspeakable blunder, an unpardonable 
cruelty. We surely see the apostasy of the new theology, 
that it breaks down and parts company with Jesus at his 
Cross, that it is an effort of Satan, through those whom 
he has deceived, to strike a death-blow at the very heart 
of Jesus Christ. 

CAUSE OF DECEPTION. 

We are now ready to raise a most practical question. 
How have those friends become deceived, how have they 
been led astray? Many of those who reject the "atoning 
sacrifice" are thoughtful, scholarly, and some are reverent 
men. How can we explain their apostasy? Why do 
they hold views so different from those held by many of 
the greatest minds in the churches in all ages? The 
answer is at hand. 

The new theology advocates are, as a class, evolu- 
tionists, and some are Unitarians, though they may be 
members of Orthodox Churches. The new theology is 
built on speculative philosophy — rationalism as opposed 
to revelation and faith, on evolution as an explanation 
of how man got here, and on a false view of the moral 
nature of man. Also the radical or destructive "higher 
criticism" of the Bible has made its contribution to the 
modern apostasy, though it should be said that there is 
a sensible and helpful "higher criticism" of the Bible. 

The philosophy of evolution denies the fall of man as 
recorded in the book of Genesis. Haeckel, a noted Ger- 
man evolutionist says: "With a single stroke Darwin 
has annihiliated the dogma of creation." And he termed 
Darwin's Origin of Species as, "Anti-Genesis." Genesis 
says that Adam fell and by his sin brought upon himself 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 113 

and his posterity the penalty of death. Evolutionists 
deny this and say there was no Fall. Professor Shailer 
Mathews, of the Divinity School of Chicago University, 
who is an evolutionist, said in his class-room, "The Fall 
of man was the passing of the non-moral man to the 
moral man," that is, it was the passing of the animal 
man to the man of moral sense or conscience. In other 
words, it was not a fall but an upward bound in the 
evolution of man, thus denying the record as given in 
the book of Genesis. Nov/ it follows, as plainly as the 
sun in the heavens, that if Genesis is incorrect, if death 
did not come as a result of sin, then there is no ground 
nor occasion for the atonement by Jesus Christ. The new 
theology evolutionists, therefore, are consistent in deny- 
ing the atonement, that is, if they can prove that evolu- 
tion is an established fact, and that the Fall as stated 
in Genesis is not to be accepted as historical. 

It is not our purpose to show now, that Darwin's evo- 
lution is false, that it is not a true explanation of how 
man got here, though this could easily be done as evolu- 
tion, to this hour, is an unproved assumption. This we 
boldly assert and we challenge evolutionists to prove 
the contrary, though in so doing we may be called 
"unscientific," "behind the times," and "ignorant." As 
Philip Mauro said: "There has never been produced a 
single instance of the reproduction of one living thing of 
offspring of a different species. There has never been 
produced a single fact tending in the slightest degree to 
prove that such a thing ever happened in this universe." 
But why has evolution been accepted as true by some 
scholars? Let Mr. Mauro reply: "One reason for the 
rapid spread of this philosophy is, that it affords a plat- 
form from which skeptical and unbelieving minds could, 
in the name of science, contradict the Bible account of 



114 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

creation," and we might add, thus discredit the atonement 
made by our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Evolution is Satan's masterstroke, his weapon in the 
hands of the new theologians by which they are trying 
to break down the Cross of Christ. The conflict is rag- 
ing today around Genesis and Calvary. Here is the 
battle ground where the forces of Satan are trying to 
undermine and destroy the Christian Faith. But Satan 
and his forces are meeting defeat. Evolution has been 
proven to be false, though some still cling to it as the 
only possible working hypothesis. Error dies hard. The 
light of recent science is beginning to shine upon the 
evolutionist and he is becoming less dogmatic, more 
modest and sane, and soon he must go into obscurity 
or acknowledge the Bible to be our only authority as to 
Creation and Redemption. 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 115 

Chapter V 
AT THE CROSS 

But let us come back to Calvary. Its a holy delight 
to keep close to the Cross. Who would not love to die 
preaching or meditating on the atonement, there is such 
a universe of wisdom, mercy and grace seen here. 

The profound significance of his death, only our Lord 
himself knew. He knew what its effect would be on the 
lives of unborn millions in earth and Heaven, and his 
heart was filled with joy. Jesus was never more cheerful 
than when he went to die. He must sing a song now 
with his disciples, though he knew the burden of sin 
he was to bear would crush his heart. Populating earth 
and heaven with new born children was to him God's 
greatest work, hence he was glad, joyful, songful. We 
get our children by living, Jesus got his by dying. "He 
shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied" 
(Isa. 53:11). "When man dies, he dies for himself, when 
Jesus died he died for mankind." 

Let us now take a glimpse at the universality of our 
Lord's death, touching only in merest outline, the moun- 
tain peaks. There is the backward view, the present 
blessing, and the future glory. 

THE BACKWARD VIEW. 

The backward view. The atonement is an eternal 
fact. Planned before worlds were made or systems 
framed, it is related to our race from its inception. We 
cannot fully comprehend the meaning of the atonement 
related as it is to all the moral universe of God. The 
ocean of love it reveals is too wide for man to navigate, 
the universe of grace it opens up is too vast for man with 



116 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

his tiny telescope to scan. As we get a glimpse of its 
sweep in the eternity of the past, present and future, 
words fall down as impotent things, their backs are 
broken, they cannot tell the story, and tears of grateful 
love are more becoming. 

The death of Christ makes clear that God has but one 
plan, one way of saving men, and that is the way of 
grace. 

Man was made under law, that is under God's moral 
government, and his fellowship and happiness were made 
conditional upon his obedience. But in the testing man 
fell, he disobeyed, he sinned, he rebelled against the per- 
fect will or government of God. It is seen by this that 
man was made free, that is, he was made in the image 
of God, with all the powers of a free moral being — 
powers to think, to feel, to act. In the proper exercise 
of these powers, these great responsibilities, consisted his 
prosperity and happiness as man. 

God could not create any other kind of moral 
or spiritual being and make him free. Man, therefore, 
must have within him the possibility of disobeying God. 
Then we say, "God took a chance in creating man." 
Yes, if we wish to put it that way, but it was an act of 
infinite wisdom and love on God's part to create man. 
God is a working, a creative God. God could not create 
a God, but he could create a perfect sinless man, a being 
with many limitations, in whom his fatherly heart could 
take delight. And creating man in a limited way, mak- 
ing him subject to law, giving him spiritual and mental 
powers, the powers of a free spirit, did not God strik- 
ingly reveal his wisdom and his love? For thus limited 
man can grow, make progress, aspire, study, learn, in- 
vent, discover, obey, wonder, worship, and adore, all of 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 117 

which are necessary to the happiness of man and to the 
praise and glory of the Creator. 

But we have said that man in his testing rebelled, fell 
into sin, and brought upon himself and his posterity the 
curse of sin, which is eternal death. Now, what is God 
to do? God fore-knew that man would die. God made 
man not to die but to live. Is it not the highest reason 
to conclude that God would make provision for man's 
recovery, from the curse of sin and death? How could 
God do otherwise? God must be true to himself, to his 
own character, to his eternal love, and God must move 
toward man to redeem, to save him, hence the substitu- 
tionary atonement is a necessity, that is if God be true 
to his own character. And this is exactly what the "aton- 
ing sacrifice" for man means, that God is a loving, a 
saving God, true to his own character. His plan in pro- 
viding for man's redemption, through his own Son, by 
one who would perfectly obey his government, his will, 
and give himself in death, has shown to man God's love 
in a most marvelous way, a way so sublime, that aside 
from it, God could not so disclose the tenderness and 
passion of his infinite heart. 

GOD'S LOVE COMPELLED ATONEMENT. 

So we see then that love compelled atonement, and 
that to argue against the atonement is to argue against 
the love of God. God must be true to his own justice, 
to that which is inherently and eternally right, and to 
do this he must punish sin, he must reveal justice, he 
must be true to himself, to his own eternal love. He 
must move toward man to save him. "God so loved the 
world that he gave his only begotten son" (John 3:16). 
Jesus died in man's place. The Cross, therefore, has be- 



118 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

come the focusing or converging place where the love, 
justice and wisdom of God are revealed in all their glory, 
grace and power. 

God's purpose is that in his universe there shall be no 
opposition to his holy love, that there shall be no 
discord, but perfect harmony, that all rebellion must be 
put away, that all enemies must be destroyed, including 
death, that "At the name of Jesus every knee should 
bend and that every tongue should acknowledge Jesus 
Christ as Lord" (Phil. 2:11). Jesus Christ came to re- 
store perfect harmony in the universe of God, and to this 
end man must be reconciled, and Satan, sin and death 
defeated and destroyed. Anything short of this could 
not be a complete program of redemption and recon- 
ciliation. 

SINNERS EVER SAVED THROUGH CHRIST. 

From what has been seen we are now ready to conclude 
that men in every age were saved through the Cross of 
Christ, that Christ alone, as he said, is "the Way and the 
Truth and the Life, no one ever comes to the Father 
except through me" (John 14:6). Peter said: "for there 
is no other Name in the whole world given to men to 
which we must look for our salvation" (Acts. 4:12). 
This is true of those who preceded Christ on the earth, 
for God has only one Saviour for men. Man has ever 
been saved by grace through faith, as Paul clearly shows 
in his letters to the Romans and Galatians. Only through 
sacrifice could man ever approach God. Sacrifice taught 
that man was justified by faith through the goodness, the 
unmerited favor of God. Through sacrifice sin has ever 
been forgiven. The ancient atonements were all educa- 
tive, typical of the one great Sacrifice for sin. The Jewish 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 119 

atonements all cried in a typical way : "Here is the Lamb 
of God which is to take away the sin of the world" (John 
1:29). 

THE PRESENT BLESSING. 

Let us note the present blessing of the "atoning 
sacrifice" of Christ. All the gifts and graces of the 
Holy Spirit were purchased for man at the Cross. Here 
we have forgiveness through his blood. It is here we 
receive the endowments of the Holy Spirit. It is here 
we get the witness that we are the children of God, where 
we learn to say, "Dear Father," "Our Father." It is 
here where we learn to pray. It is here we get the con- 
sciousness that we are saved, 

"The Spirit witness with the blood, 
And tells me I am born of God." 

It is here where we get the power for service, power 
to deny self, in short where we are "rilled to the full with 
God himself" (Eph. 3:19). 

It is at the Cross where the preacher gets his equip- 
ment for preaching the gospel. It is here, in this place 
of holy fellowship, of inner shelter, of reinforcement and 
refreshing, where his face begins to shine, where he re- 
ceives the power that moves the world. Would we 
know the secret of the failure of much of our modern 
preaching, we will find it in the fact that the preachers 
and their messages are not baptised with the power and 
passion of the Cross. It is here at the Cross, also, where 
we learn the sinfulness of sin, where we get God's esti- 
mate of sin, where no sin appears small, and where God 
has made a covenant sealed with blood that he would put 
away man's sin. To Christianity, therefore, the Cross is 



120 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

central, fundamental, and indispensable. It is the one 
sign by which man must ever conquer. 

THE FUTURE GLORY. 

The Cross is a prophecy of that which is to be. 
"God did not withhold his own son, but gave him up 
on behalf of us all; will he not, then, with him freely 
give us all things" (Rom. 8:32). Who can picture 
the "all things." The resurrection to glory, a per- 
manent place in the coming Kingdom, a welcome to 
the returning Conqueror of sin and death, a reunion 
with "those we loved and lost awhile," will be part of 
the "all things." The triumph will be down here on a 
rejuvenated earth. In that great day this old world, so 
long robed in the darkness of sin, will shine in splendor 
like a new-born sun. In that great day peace and right- 
eousness will cover the earth, and swords and spears 
and bombs and shells will be as dust beneath the chariots 
of the redeemed. In that great and glorious day, when 
Christ the Conqueror of sin and death shall have de- 
livered up the Kingdom to the Father, that "God may 
be all in all" (1st Corn. 15:28), then, and not till then 
shall we see the true significance, splendor and glory of 
the Cross of Christ. 

"O glorious Cross, O glorious Crown, 
O Resurrection Day! 
Ye angels from the skies come down 
And bear my soul away." 



BOOK NO. 4 



New and Old Theology 

and 

Things to Come 



"Proclaim the message, be ready in season and out 
of season, convince, rebuke, encourage, never failing 
to instruct with forebearance. For a time will come 
when people will not tolerate sound teaching. They will 
follow their own wishes, and, in their itchings for novelty, 
procure themselves a crowd of teachers. They will turn 
a deaf ear to the Truth, and give their attention to 
legends instead'' (2nd Tim. 4: 2-4). 

Chapter I 
GENERAL APPROACH. 

It is with a feeling of gladness that we now take up 
the development of the fourth and last message in this 
series. We are aware, however, of the greatness of the 
topic, and how difficult it is to do justice to it in a 



122 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

brief treatment. May God get for his truth a great 
victory ! 

By the term eschatology we mean those things that 
have to do with the future life of man, both on earth 
and in heaven. But before taking up some of those 
things, we should ask, what is the source of our author- 
ity? We have only one authority — the Bible. We can 
as well study botany by eliminating the sun, as we can 
study eschatology by eliminating the Bible. Where the 
Bible is silent we dare not affirm, we can only speculate, 
but where the Bible speaks there we can dogmatize, 
affirm, for we believe the Bible to be the word of God, 
his special revelation to mankind. 

There are many things pertaining to man's future 
life of which we are totally ignorant, hence we should 
not hesitate to reply in the words, I do not know, to 
many questions that might be asked. God has not seen 
fit to disclose to us a complete map of the future, but he 
has given to us a partial outline ; and we should not fail 
to emphasize this, that God has given to us some knowl- 
edge of the future, a partial outline of those great real- 
ities that we shall fully understand by and by. These 
realities are a part of the message of the Church in this 
age. 

SPECULATION UNJUSTIFIABLE. 

And related to these there are innumerable details 
which in themselves will be events of glorious revela- 
tion. For all practical and necessary purposes, for the 
development of character, of faith and hope and love, for 
inspiration to service as we travel on toward home, God 
has given to us sufficient revelation in his word. 

As to the future, we should take care not to presume 
or speculate. The new theology claims that we have a 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 123 

right to speculate regarding man's future life, to assume 
on what we now know of the character of God. But what 
do we know about the character of God? We know 
absolutely nothing aside from that which the Scriptures 
reveal; and the Bible assures us that the revelation has 
been closed, and that it is unwise to speculate beyond 
that which has been written (1st Corn. 4:6). Guessing, 
presuming, conjecturing, speculating here is a wild-goose 
chase; and it is more, it is a sin (Rev. 22:-18-19). If we 
admit the contention of the new theology we shall be 
in danger of turning from our holy study in disgust, of 
shutting out from our vision, as the liberal theologians 
have done, the revealed realities of the future life, as 
they are disclosed to us in the Bible, and of giving our 
attention to speculative hypotheses, theosophy, phil- 
osophy, spiritism, new thought fads, and all kinds of 
vagaries, if we do not finally end in hopeless infidelity. 

SHOULD STUDY SCRIPTURES. 

And there is another important fact to notice. Since 
we are shut in to the Scriptures, it follows that we should 
be earnest students of that which the Bible reveals con- 
cerning man's future life. Thoughtless and irreverent 
persons should not touch this holy theme. In making 
our exegesis, we should follow the apostolic direction — 
"explaining spiritual things in spiritual words," (2nd 
Corn. 2:13), that is, using the Scriptures only, otherwise 
we shall be bewildered in the confusion of our own ignor- 
ance. We desire, therefore, to emphasize the importance, 
in our religious thinking and teaching, of keeping in 
closest company with the Bible. Here we have the es- 
sential difference, in method, between the new apostasy 
and the old theology. The old exalts what God has said 
in the Scriptures ; the new exalts what man has said out- 



124 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

side the Scriptures. The old makes no apology for the 
inspired Book, but accepts it as it is, the word of God; 
the new exalts reason above revelation, hence they choose 
certain parts of Scripture that are to their liking, and 
other parts they brush over as untrustworthy. If certain 
passages are found to be opposed to the new theology, 
they say, "That is Pauline," or "That is Petrine," or 
"That is Apocalyptic," or "That is supposed by the latest 
scholarship to be legendary," or "There is a question as 
to the authenticity of that passage," etc. You see it is 
a very simple method if you want to reject a difficult 
passage that is opposed to your theory or speculative 
theology. 

In discussing our theme we should not overlook 
the large place God has given in his word to the 
revelation of things to come. In the very nature of 
the case the claims of the future must have a large place. 
In the last book in the Bible about nineteen chapters 
out of twenty-two are devoted largely to the realities 
of the future life. Nearly every book in the New 
Testament contains references to future events. To the 
second coming of Christ alone we have about three 
hundred references, one out of about every twenty-five 
verses in the New Testament, while in the Old Testament 
it is referred to eight times more often than his first 
Advent. We may be quite surprised at knowing that 
more than one-half the Bible is prophecy, much of which 
has to do with man's future life. And we are exhorted 
to study prophecy more than any other subject. The 
book of Revelation which the new theology apostasy be- 
littles, by calling it "apocalyptic," contains more Old 
Testament quotations than the gospels and epistles com- 
bined, or in all 245 references. The last invitation to 
the sinning and lost, the last prayer, and the last recorded 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 125 

words of Jesus are found in this book. Moreover, our 
Lord devoted much of his ministry in teaching of things 
to come — the fact of man's part in the final triumph of 
the Kingdom of God. He made numerous references to 
the state of the righteous and the wicked in the world 
beyond, in order to incite to repentance and holiness of 
life here. And from this we are fully justified in con- 
cluding, that the facts of man's future life should have 
a large place in the preaching and teaching of the gospel 
of Jesus Christ. 

But as we look about us what do we find? Read the 
New York newspapers on Saturday and see the subjects 
that some of the preachers announce for their Sunday 
sermons: "A Snowball Service," "An Orange Service," 
"Our Need of More Bathtubs," "the Coming Election," 
"The Books in the Bible I believe to be Inspired," "A 
Lecture on Spiritism by New York's Greatest Bible Lec- 
turer"? "Can the Modern Man Accept the Pauline Doc- 
trines?" "Can We Dogmatize About the Future?" "The 
Modern Point of View of Religion," "The Results of the 
Recent Election," etc. If you would see the new theology 
in its true garb, go and hear a lecture from one of their 
chief lights on eschatology. It would not be thought 
unkind in saying that Paul described this class of 
preachers when he said: "Professing themselves to be 
wise they became fools" (Rom. 1 :22). Think of preachers 
substituting for the eternal verities a lecture on "bath- 
tubs, as if the tub, and not the blood-red Cross, and the 
empty grave, is the way into the Kingdom of God." 

TURNED CHURCH INTO A CLUB. 

The new theology in its effort to humanize, rationalize, 
and circumscribe to earthly limits the eternal gospel, has 
by so doing apostatized the Church of God. They have 



126 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

turned the Church into a club. They would shut out 
from the thought and vision of men the great Homeland 
and the coming Kingdom of God on earth. Paul in 
speaking of those, "whose minds are given up to earthly 
things," further described the new theologians and their 
deluded disciples, and he adds: "But the state of which 
we are citizens is in Heaven ; and it is from Heaven that 
we are eagerly looking for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus 
Christ" (Phil. 3 :18-20). The true Christian has his heart 
in Heaven while he plods earth's dusty highways; and 
he sings: 

"I'm a pilgrim, I'm a stranger, 
I can tarry, I can tarry but a night." 

SAVING SOCIETY? 

But the new theology would turn men's thoughts only 
to the passing, the transcient things, having its face in the 
dust, and its back toward man's Eternal Home. Rejecting 
the Bible revelation, as to the future, it turns its atten- 
tion to society, and talks much of "saving society," not 
of saving individuals, for that they cannot do. "The 
social uplift," "the social conscience," "the social spirit," 
"civic righteousness," "our need of a reconstructed re- 
ligion" — mark you, not a reconstructed man— -these are 
their lofty themes. But when the new theology can win 
individuals to Christ, then we will listen to them when 
they talk about saving society. Here is the supreme 
test of any theology, can it win individuals to Christ in 
the local church congregation! To dilate on social im- 
provement is good so far as it goes, yet it is only one of 
the results of a great Cause, one of the flowers on the 
tree of Christianity. 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 127 

What would we think of a farmer cutting down his 
apple orchard and giving as his reason that he must 
devote his time to the improvement of apple blossoms? 
Perhaps we would say that that farmer must have been 
converted to the new theology method, for that is what 
this school is doing. They are trying to cut down the 
tree. They deny redemption by the blood of Christ, they 
deny the resurrection of the body, the miracles, the per- 
sonal second coming of Christ, the days of Judgment, 
Heaven as a real place: in short, they would cut down 
the tree, while they devote themselves assiduously to 
learned discussions on blossoms. It's so fine, so cultured, 
so practical ! God help us to apply our religion to every 
day life, and reveal Jesus Christ, for this is our supreme 
task; but it is as easy to produce blossoms and fruit by 
destroying the tree, to erect a great building by throwing 
to the winds the architect's plan, to live in a physical 
body without a head or a heart, as it is to have a whole- 
some society, a Christian civilization, without believing 
and teaching the fundamental doctrines of the Christian 
religion. What blood and bones are to the body so doc- 
trines are to the church of Christ. O, the pity, the folly, 
the insanity of any theology that would turn man's 
thoughts away from the great realities of the future life. 
Man's life here is important, but it is like the chick 
peeping in its shell to be set free, it is like a grain of 
gold flowing from a mountain range of gems, in a nar- 
row and swiftly running current, to an ocean that is 
shoreless. 

MISINTERPRETING FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE. 

In describing the attitude of the new and the old 
theology to things to come, there is another fact that 
should be considered, namely, the way the speculative 



128 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

theology treats the highly figurative portions of the Bible, 
especially those figurative parts found in the Book of 
Daniel, our Lord's discourses on his second coming, and 
the major part of the Book of Revelation. The new 
theology refers to these portions of our Bible as "apo- 
calyptic," that is, in their thought, untrustworthy, highly 
pictorial and figurative, and not to be understood in any 
literal sense, and serving absolutely no practical purpose. 

There were fourteen apocryphal books in all, but these 
never had a place in any of our Protestant Bibles. The 
book of Daniel and Revelation never properly belonged 
to that collection; but because we find in these great 
books some of the same style of highly pictorial litera- 
ture, we find in the fourteen books mentioned, the new 
theology school would belittle these two inspired pro- 
ductions. It should be said, however, that this is not 
the real reason why this school speaks slightingly of 
Daniel and Revelation. The reason as given above is 
captious, a covert one, given to conceal. The cause for 
the rejection of these two books by our modern ration- 
alists is, that they do not want to accept the doctrines 
of these books relative to the personal coming of Christ, 
the millenium, and the Kingdom of God, when our Lord 
shall reign on earth. Here then is their real reason 
for slurring these great inspired books, speaking of them 
as "apocalyptic/' Two-thirds of these books were 
written in the highly figurative, pictorial, symbolic, or 
as the new theology say, in the "apocalyptic" style. 

It should not be imagined that because a literature is 
highly figurative that it is of no value, as we sometimes 
hear ignorant persons remark. Students of literature 



The reason for frequently using in this book the name of the 
late Dr. W. N. Clark is, because he is viewed as the leading 
American new theology advocate of the past generation. 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 129 

affirm that figurative language is more rich, more sug- 
gestive, more full of meaning than literal language. As 
Dr. Sylvester Burnham of Colgate Divinity School, one 
of our greatest living Bible scholars, truly said, "All fig- 
ures of speech can be reduced to their literal meaning." 
The Bible contains much figurative language. Our Lord 
often resorted to the use of figures of speech and pic- 
torial language in order to make the truth more vivid 
and impressive. Let us not, therefore, think that the 
Book of Daniel and Revelation can be ruled out because 
these books contain some highly figurative language. It 
is the business of the student to find the meaning of the 
symbols employed, and give to men the interpretation 
as God intended we should do. 

Here is an illustration of the way the new theology 
treats, for instance, the Book of Revelation. The late 
Dr. W. N. Clark, who produced a new theology text 
book, entitled, "An Outline of Christian Theology," 
in which he gives the new theology point of view, says 
on page 388, of the book of Revelation, that this book, 
"was neither intended for exact fulfilment nor capable 
of receiving it." What he meant is, that the prophecies 
contained in this book are not trustworthy, but spurious. 
Of course, if they were "not intended for exact fulfil- 
ment," they are untrustworthy. Thus he seems to deny 
the inspiration of the book. His method of discrediting 
this great book is obvious. Is it easy to get rid of the 
teaching of a book, if one does not care to accept it, by 
saying that it cannot be fulfilled, that it is untrustworthy? 
Dr. Clark did not, in so many words, say that this book 
is a fabrication, but his words would naturally convey 
that idea. However, an assertion of this kind does not 
prove this book to be spurious. 



130 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

This same writer again states of this book that, "It 
gloriously exalts Christ and foretells his victory." Does 
not this sound strange following his former statement? 
The book is "not capable of exact fulfillment," yet "it 
exalts Christ and foretells his victory." How would a 
statement like that be received in a court of justice? 
This is a fair sample of the dishonest way in which the 
new theology treats the Bible as a whole. We might 
say that this is their uniform method of handling the 
Bible, the method in which they exalt reason above 
Revelation. It seems that what Dr. Clark meant to say 
was, parts of this book I accept and parts I reject. Yet 
we cannot but ask, how can this book, "foretell Christ's 
victory," if its prophesies are "incapable of being re- 
ceived," and were "not intended for exact fulfillment?" 

MILLENIUM REJECTED. 

Again, this new theology author states, "we cannot 
make time-calculations about its millenium in the 20th 
chapter." He states on the same page 388, "since this is 
the only mention of a millenium, it follows that there is 
no ground for a question of a pre-millenial or post- 
millenial advent." This is only another way of saying 
that we cannot afford to believe God unless he repeats 
himself and submits his revelation to two or more wit- 
nesses. John's veracity is questioned, his testimony ruled 
out (this great Apostle who is now banished and suffer- 
ing in a prison cell, who was ready to lay down his life 
for his Divine Lord), by the twentieth century new 
theology apostacy, albeit that this same Apostle is one 
of those to whom God intrusted a special revelation re- 
garding the second coming of his Son. 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 131 

NEW THEOLOGY DILEMMA. 

However, if this new theology principle of exegesis is 
sound, then we shall have to reject most of our Bible, for 
in rare instances did God give any inspired writer the 
identical revelation he gave to other writers. It becomes 
obvious that such a method of interpretation is icon- 
oclastic, unscientific, ignoring every principle of inter- 
pretation. It is a rejection of the authority of the Scrip- 
tures, and an exaltation of man's wisdom above the word 
of God. And we have in not a few pulpits men, who 
ought to know better, spinning this arrogance of the new 
theology, pretending a superior scholarship, and claiming 
to give " 'the true historical interpretation/ 'the modern 
point of view of religion/ 'something acceptable to the 
modern man/ 'the results of the latest scholarship/ " and 
that, as a result of this exhibition of their ignorance, they 
have knocked the old theology "moss-backs" into a 
cocked hat. If we had the genius of the Holy Spirit 
himself, we could not describe in words the ignorance 
and impotence, if not blasphemy, of this so-called new 
theology. It is enough to fill hell with disgust ! 

Yet this is the abomination that is crammed into the 
minds of the students in not a few of our seminaries as 
a preparation for the holy work of winning the world 
to God. Hear what the inspired John says about his 
majestic book: 

"I declare to all who hear the words of the prophecy 
contained in this book, 'If any one adds to it, God will 
add to his troubles the Curses described in this book: 
and if anyone takes away any of the words in the book 
containing this prophecy, God will take away his share 
in the Tree of Life, and the Holy City — as described in 
this book'" (Rev. 22: 18-19). Here then are the woes 



132 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

pronounced upon the teachers who deny or misrepresent 
this final message of God to man. 

We have dwelt at length under this general division of 
our topic, and we trust the way has been cleared for 
what will follow. Let us now examine some of the great 
Christian doctrines, those that have to do with man's 
future, and see what is the attitude of the new and the 
old theology toward them. 

We will take up in subsequent chapters: 

1. The Second Coming of Christ. 

2. The Resurrection. 

3. The Judgments. 

4. The Message of the Apostolic Church. 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 133 

Chapter II 
THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. 

The position of the new theology is that Jesus Christ 
will never come back to this planet in bodily or personal 
appearance. They say that the second coming is unseen, 
spiritual, and continuous, that Christ is coming as fast 
as he can get into this world, that he came on Pentecost 
in the presence of the Holy Spirit, that he came at the 
destruction of Jerusalem, in judgment upon that city, and 
that he comes at death. The new theology declares that 
the Apostles understood that Jesus Christ would come 
back in a visible manner, and in their own day, but in 
this, they say, the apostles were mistaken. 

To the foregoing we would reply briefly: 

We cannot go much into detail but remind ourselves 
only of some of the outstanding facts, which facts show 
conclusively that the claim of the new theology is out of 
harmony with the teaching of God's Truth on this great 
matter. 

We affirm that the Scriptures teach a personal visible 
reappearance of our Blessed Lord. Dr. Clark says, on 
page 399 — "Christian Theology," in referring to the words 
our Lord used in setting forth his coming, "this language 
is borrowed directly from the prophets . . . who ap- 
plied it to events on the earth, in which, of course, it 
could not be literally fulfilled." The argument is, be- 
cause the language was, as Dr. Clark says, "borrowed," 
therefore, it cannot "be literally fulfilled." 

THE OLD TESTAMENT REJECTED. 

This is another way of saying that the prophets of 
the Old Testament were mistaken, and that Jesus used 

9 



134 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

their misleading statements, either wilfully or ignorantly. 
If we accept this view we also must admit that Jesus 
Christ has misled the world ever since as to his second 
coming. We accept this sort of teaching at its face 
value. It is the new theology apostacy against both the 
prophets and Jesus Christ. But they reply, "No, we do 
not teach that Jesus was mistaken, but that he used pic- 
torial language to reveal a spiritual fact." But does it 
not appear strange that Jesus should do this thing, know- 
ing that his apostles would misunderstand him? That 
his apostles understood him to teach a visible return to 
earth is unquestioned, as is seen by the words of Luke, 
in Acts 1: 9-11. "No sooner had Jesus Christ said this 
than he was caught up before their eyes, and a cloud 
received him from their sight. While they were still 
gazing up into the heavens, as he w T ent, suddenly two 
men, clothed in white, stood beside them, and said : 'Men 
of Galilee, why are you standing here looking up into 
the heavens? This very Jesus, who has been taken from 
you into the heavens, will come in the very way in which 
you have seen him go into the heavens." Here then is 
a plain literal statement as to the manner of his coming, 
and shows clearly that this was the view held by the New 
Testament writers. This being true, is it not reasonable 
to believe that when our Lord used language, setting 
forth his coming in the heavens, in a personal visible 
manner, he intended his people to understand it as a 
literal fact? The disciples so understood it. And is it 
fair to put the judgment of the men of our time over 
against the view held by those men, namely: Matt., 
Mark, Luke, Peter, Paul, and John, who were the greatest 
interpreters of what Jesus said, men who knew him per- 
sonally, heard his words, and to whom he gave his truth 
to pass on for unborn millions? We affirm that this is 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 135 

a reasonable assumption, more reasonable than to believe 
that God waited until the twentieth century to show to 
the speculative theologians that the apostles were mis- 
taken in this matter. 

WERE THE APOSTLES MISTAKEN? 

Again, note what they say as to the apostles being mis- 
taken regarding the time of our Lord's coming. Were 
they really mistaken? The new theology boldly affirms 
they were. Let us see. 

Jesus taught that his coming is imminent, that is, it 
is imminent in the sense and only in the sense that no 
man could possibly know the day nor the hour of this 
great event. He commanded his disciples to watch for 
it, to be ready for it. He says : "But about the day and 
hour no one knows — but only the Father himself" (Matt. 
24-36). In verse 42 he says: "Therefore watch, since you 
know neither the Day nor the Hour" (Matt. 25 :13). The 
Apostles, therefore, did not know the time of his coming, 
and how natural, as true disciples of Jesus, that they 
should be looking for it. In so doing they proved their 
loyalty to their Lord. 

The apostles never affirmed that Jesus was coming in 
their time, but they did affirm that they were looking, 
expecting, watching for his re-appearance, just as every 
true Christian from that day to this has been looking, 
expecting Jesus to return. This is the attitude of true 
faith and obedience. Had the apostles done otherwise 
they would have revealed that they were not faithful to 
Jesus Christ. Instead, therefore, of using this attitude 
of the Apostles as an argument against the personal com- 
ing of Christ and as proof that the Apostles taught that 
Jesus would come in their day, it is rather an argument 
in behalf of his personal coming, and an unanswerable 



136 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

argument at that. But one of the facts in this connec- 
tion which we desire to emphasize is that the Apostles 
never positively affirmed that Jesus was to return in 
their day. 

Our conclusion from what has been said is this, that 
beyond "the possibility of a doubt, our Lord intended 
his disciples to understand, that for some great purpose, 
and in some visible manner, and at some unknown future 
time, he would come back again." 

We will conclude this discussion by making some gen- 
eral observations. 

First: God did not reveal to his Son when he was on 
earth, the time of his return to this planet, but he did 
reveal to him what the state of the world would be prior 
to his return, and the signs that will precede his Advent. 

Admitting what we have just stated to be true, does 
not permit us in any wise to argue against a visible com- 
ing, nor to affirm that the time of his second Advent is 
not now known to Jesus Christ. Doubtless after he was 
glorified in Heaven, the Father made clear to his Son the 
time of his second Advent. 

Second: The destruction of Jerusalem of which our 
Lord prophesied in Matt. 24th chapter and Luke 21st 
chapter, was used as a type of his second coming, to wit : 
it would be a time of judgment. 

Third: That the second coming did not occur at the 
destruction of Jerusalem is known by the fact that there 
was then no ressurection of the righteous dead as Paul 
makes clear will occur at the coming of Christ (1st Thes. 
4:17). 

Fourth: A reign of righteousness and peace did not 
come to this earth at the destruction of Jerusalem, and 
such a reign is revealed in Rev. 20: 5-6 when our Lord 
returns or soon thereafter. 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 137 

Fifth: Jesus Christ came in judgment to the Jews, as 
a nation, at the destruction of Jerusalem, but there was 
no general judgment of the righteous at this time, as will 
occur at the second coming of Christ. This is the judg- 
ment of rewards and on the basis of works, and will take 
place at the marriage supper of the Lamb, immediately 
after the second coming of Christ (1st Thes. 4:17). 

Sixth: Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A. D., but we 
have a distinct prophesy of the coming of Christ in 95 
A. D., the time when John wrote the Book of Revelation 
(Rev. 20:6). 

THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE SECOND COMING. 

Further, the coming of the Holy Spirit could not have 
been the fulfillment of the prophesy of our Lord's return, 
and for the following reasons : 

The work of the Holy Spirit was revealed by Jesus 
to be: 

(a) To convict the world of sin because men re- 
ject Christ as their Saviour ; but Jesus when he comes 
will destroy or banish sin (John 16: 8 & 9). 

(b) The Holy Spirit will convict men of their 
need of righteousness ; but Jesus when he comes will 
make righteousness universal (John 16:10). 

(c) The Holy Spirit comes to convict the world 
of God's righteous judgment; but Jesus at his com- 
ing will execute that judgment (John 16:11). 

(d) The Holy Spirit comes to reveal Jesus as 
Saviour; but Jesus at his coming will conclude the 
age of gospel grace (John 16: 13-14). 

(e) The Holy Spirit when he comes does not de- 
stroy death ; but Jesus will abolish death at his com- 
ing (Heb. 2: 14-15; 1st John 3:8; 2nd Tim. 1 :10). 



138 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

(f) The Holy Spirit works unseen; but the com- 
ing of our Lord will be a visible event, when he will 
be "honored in his people" (2nd Thes. 1:10; John 
16:13; Rev. 1:7). 

(g) The sign of the coming of the Holy Spirit was 
cloven tongues like as of fire which rested on the 
disciples; but the sign of the coming of Christ will 
be his own visible glory in the heavens (Acts 2:3; 
Matt. 24:30). 

(h) Many of the prophesies of our Lord's coming 
were made after the advent of the Holy Spirit on 
Pentecost, including all those found in the New 
Testament outside the four gospels. This fact alone 
is sufficient to prove beyond a doubt the fallacious 
contention of the new apostasy, namely, that the 
Second Coming of Christ is seen in the work of the 
Holy Spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit and the 
work of Christ as revealed in the New Testament 
are as distinct as the office of President and Secretary 
of State in these United States. And only a Devil- 
inspired teacher or preacher would confuse or iden- 
tify them as one. 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 139 

Chapter III 

THE RESURRECTION. 

We have seen, according to the new theology or the 
modern rationalism, that the coming of Christ is a con- 
tinuous event which culminates at death. We will now 
examine this theology further as to its teachings con- 
cerning the Resurrection. We find that it is a denial of 
the Resurrection of the body. The new theology teaches 
that God will never raise up man's body from the dust, 
in the Day called in Scripture, the Resurrection Day, or 
the last Day, and give to man a new, a glorified, an Im- 
mortal Body. 

RESURRECTION AT DEATH? 

The new theology teaches that the Resurrection occurs 
at death for both the righteous and the wicked. Dr. 
Clark says — "If we accept the view of Christ's coming 
that has been expressed on previous pages, we shall 
naturally think that each human being's Resurrection 
takes place at death." (Page 410, Ch. Theo.) Again he 
states "It is most probable that the human spirit will 
arise from death to the life beyond with an organism 
adapted to its uses in that life" (Page 409 Ch. Theo.) 
And again — "It is not taught that Christ's Resurrection 
added a new element to human destiny." (Page 407, Ch. 
Theo.) These references furnish us with a clear view 
of the position of the new theology as to the Resurrec- 
tion. Let us examine these teachings in the light of 
Scripture and see if they have a peg on which to stand. 

There is not a hint in Scripture that the Resurrection 
takes place at death. Further, we have not the slightest 



140 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

reason to suppose that the New Testament writers at- 
tached any other meaning to the Resurrection than the 
reviving of dead bodies. The term Resurrection cannot 
be scripturally used if applied only to the spirit of man, 
yet this is the only sense in which the new theology uses 
it. They say that it is the spirit of man and not his body 
that is raised up at death, not that the spirit dies, but 
that it passes on or is raised up, having been clothed with 
its new body or organism at the moment of its departure 
from the human body. But the New Testament writers 
never speak of the Resurrection of a living spirit at death, 
with them it is always the Resurrection of the dead, 
something that is dead and not something that never dies. 
Moreover, it is always presented as an event that occurs, 
not at death, but that shall take place at some future 
time. If the Resurrection takes place at death, as the 
new theology affirms, then it is an ever occuring event, a 
past, present and future event, of perpetual occurrence, 
taking place as often as a human spirit passes out of the 
body. But as stated there is no support in Scripture for 
this speculation. 

To make clear that the Resurrection does not take place 
at death, and that it has not occurred in the past but is 
an event of the future, note Paul's words — "They have 
gone completely astray as regards the truth, they say that 
the Resurrection has already taken place, and so upset 
some people's faith" (2nd Tim. 2:18). It is inconceiv- 
able that Paul would have used such words if the Resur- 
rection takes place at death. If this were the case he 
would have said, "The Resurrection is an event of con- 
tinuous occurrence as it takes place at death." The only 
possible conclusion from Paul's words is, that the Resur- 
rection had not taken place up to that time, that it is 
an event of the future. It might be added here, if God 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 141 

decreed the Resurrection to take place at death why did 
he make an exception to his universal plan as seen by 
the time of the Resurrection of Christ? 

RESURRECTION AND SECOND COMING SIMULTANEOUS 

EVENTS. 
Note further that the Resurrection and the Second 
Coming of Christ are simultaneous occurrences in New 
Testament teaching. The new theology so views them 
in assigning these events to the hour of death. But we 
have seen that these events do not occur at death, hence 
we must look to the future for both the Resurrection 
and the Second Coming of Christ. And here the Scrip- 
tures blaze the way. Paul associates them together in 
his first letter to the Church at Corinth. He says — "But 
each in his proper order, and Christ the first fruits ; (from 
the dead) afterwards at the coming of Christ, those who 
belong to the Christ. Then will come the end" (1st Corn. 
15: 23-24). Here then are three events occurring simul- 
taneously, 

The Second Coming of Christ, 
The Resurrection of the Saints, 
The End of the Gospel Age. 

And this is in keeping with the Scriptures throughout. 

NEW TESTAMENT POSITION. 

What does the New Testament teach as to the 
Resurrection of the body? Have we ample reason for 
believing that God will raise the dead? Well, God has 
already raised some from among the dead. He raised 
up Jesus Christ and others. But do the Scriptures teach 
that there is a Resurrection for all men? To this our 
Lord replies— he was affirming a general Resurrection 



142 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

and the men of his day marveled, they shook their wise 
heads and said, impossible, or as our modern rationalists 
would say, "unscientific, sheerest nonsense." But to the 
rationalists in our Lord's day we hear him reply — "Do 
not wonder at this for the time is coming when all who 
are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out" 
(John 5:28). The rationalists, evolutionists, new theol- 
ogy speculators, were a bit shocked at this startling an- 
nouncement. We can fancy that they ridiculed the Man 
of the open grave, saying — "This fellow is ignorant, he 
never went to college, he is not familiar with the latest 
scientific works, he has not brushed up against univer- 
sity men, and is out of touch with modern thought." But 
we hear Jesus say : "Do not wonder at this, for the time 
is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his 
voice and will come out." Glory to God, when he speaks, 
we shall hear his voice and come forth to Judgment and 
to Glory, father will come out, mother will come out, 
loved ones will come out, they will all come out. No 
one will be missing there. And to put double emphasis 
on this great event Jesus adds — "I shall not lose one, 
but shall raise them up at the Last Day" (John 6:39). 
In verse 40 he says : "For this is the will of my Father," 
that is, this is the fixed decree of Almighty God "that 
every one who believes in him (Jesus Christ) should have 
Immortal Life; and I myself will raise him up at the 
Last Day." We have here the following facts clearly 
revealed : 

It will be a Resurrection of dead bodies. 

It will occur on the Last Day. 

Immortality is conditioned on the Resurrection of the 
saints, and is never spoken of as belonging to the 
unsaved. 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 143 

We should not overlook the fact that dead bodies were 
raised up in our Lord's day on earth. When he raised 
Lazarus he designated to himself a new name. To as- 
sure Mary and Martha of his mission he said — "I am 
the Resurrection and the Life," that is as if he had said : 
"I have power in myself to raise the dead and impart 
Immortal Life." At the Saviour's death God gave wit- 
ness to its acceptance as an atonement for sin, by raising 
up some of the saints. "Many of God's people rose, and 
they leaving their tombs went after the Resurrection of 
Jesus, into the Holy City, and appeared to many people" 
(Matt. 22:52). 

THE IMMORTAL BODY. 

And we should not fail to see that Immortality for 
man is conditioned on his life in Christ, and that it is 
always associated in the New Testament with the Resur- 
rection of the body. Immortality in the Bible never means 
endless existence or everlasting life, but rather a certain 
kind of glorified existence with Christ in the new Im- 
mortal Body. This is a tremendous fact that shouldn't 
be forgotten. Dr. Clark says: "It is not taught that 
Christ's Resurrection added a new element to human 
destiny" (Ch. Theo., page 407). But over against this 
modern evolutionist we must place the authority of Paul. 
He says : "We shall be also in the likeness of His Resur- 
rection" (Rom. 6.5). Here then is added a new element 
of infinite value, namely; likeness to Christ's Resurrec- 
tion. In other words the new element added is an Im- 
mortal Body. No hint is given in the Scriptures of this 
Immortal Body aside from Christ and his Resurrection. 
As a commentary on this glorious fact Paul again states 
— "But in truth Christ has been raised from the dead, 
the first-fruits of those who are at rest. For since 



144 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

through man there is death, so also through man there 
is a Resurrection of the dead" and "As we have borne, 
the likeness of him who came from dust, so let us bear 
the likeness of him who came from Heaven" (1st Corn. 
15: 20, 21, 29). Paul further says— "And he is the Head 
of the Church which is His Body, the First-born from 
the dead. He is to the Church the Source of Life" (Col. 
1 : 17-18). In the light of these passages, we affirm again 
that Christ's Resurrection added a new element to human 
destiny, namely — an Immortal Body. 

Here then is our summary of this study of the Resur- 
rection : 

1. The Resurrection does not occur at death but is an 
event of the future. 

2. Jesus Christ was raised up from the dead. 

3. This was the first Resurrection of its kind that has 
ever occurred in human history, because in Christ we see 
the first Immortal and glorified body of human appear- 
ance, a type of the new bodies which his saints shall 
have in the Resurrection. 

4. Christ's Resurrection was the first-fruits of them 
who are at rest. In other words, it shows the saints what 
they are to be in the Resurrection Body. 

5. Being an Immortal body it was the first of a new 
race of redeemed men, as the body of Adam was the first 
of a new race of human bodies. 

6. Likeness to Christ means identity with him in this 
new Immortal Body. 

7. Christ being the Head of the Body — the Church, it 
follows that the Body must be possessed with the same 
Immortal Life as the Head. 

8. Likeness thus to Christ in the Immortal Body is 
the ultimate of Redemption, in-so-far as it has been re- 
vealed to us in the word of God. 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 145 

It was a glimpse of this new Immortal Body which 
David had when he said: "I shall be satisfied when I 
awake with thy likeness" (Ps. 17:15). As our Lord's 
death is the basis of our forgiveness and reconciliation, 
so likewise his Resurrection is the pledge of our resur- 
rection in an Immortal Body. 

Only in Christ is man Immortal (2nd Tim. 6:16). If 
we belong to Christ, that is if we have been made anew 
by the operation of his spirit upon ours, if we have been 
translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the King- 
dom of God's dear Son, then "This perishable body of 
ours must put on an imperishable form, and this dying 
body a deathless form ,, (1st Corn. 15:24). Surely a 
new element has been added to humanity by the Resur- 
rection of Christ, viz — an Immortal Body. 

PAUL'S CONSISTENCY. 

Again it should not be forgotten that PauTs teach- 
ing on the Resurrection is consistent throughout. His 
words in 2nd Corn. 5: 1-4, which in part reads: "For 
we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were 
dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made 
with hands, eternal in the heavens," etc., cannot be used 
as a denial or refutation of his other teachings on the 
Resurrection, as seems to be claimed by the new theology. 
These words by Paul are somewhat obscure, the mean- 
ing of which is by no means as clear as his other teach- 
ing on the Resurrection; nevertheless, they are in no- 
wise a denial of the Resurrection of the body. 

If these words can be construed as suggesting the pos- 
sibility of a new body for man to inhabit at the hour of 
death, then this new body, or to use Paul's words, this 
"house which is from heaven," (Verse 2) cannot be the 
Resurrection body, and can serve only as a temporary 



146 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

organism or vehicle for the spirit of man between death 
and the Resurrection, after which man will get his per- 
manent, his glorified body in which he will forever dwell. 
By no law or principle of exegesis can we make Paul's 
words here define his idea of the Resurrection body. 
Doubtless the idea prominent in the Apostle's mind here 
is that God in his own gracious infinite provision will not 
leave his child alone at the hour of death, but will fully 
protect and provide for the wants of the spirit of man at 
that hour. This is the fact that should be emphasized 
here in this connection, and not the precise way in which 
God will do this service or make his provision. Paul's 
words are somewhat ambiguous as to just what he means 
by this "house from heaven." One thing is evident that 
he did not have in mind the Resurrection body, and no 
honest interpreter will so construe them. 

Now note, it is this somewhat obscure passage at which 
the new theology grasps to help them bolster up their 
theory that the Resurrection occurs at death, while they 
brush aside all the other teachings of God's word on 
this glorious doctrine. But we ask, why do they thus 
treat the Bible? The answer is clear. It is the same 
old story over again. It is an illustration of how 
the evolutionist uses the Scriptures. This solitary 
passage is used because to the new theologian it seems 
more in harmony with the theory of evolution than do 
the other teachings in the New Testament on the Resur- 
rection. We have shown heretofore that the evolutionist 
is consistent with his working hypothesis, his theory of 
evolution, on which his new theology apostacy has been 
constructed. Its the same illustration over and over 
again of how these men exalt the wisdom of men, above 
the word of God. These theologians tell us that the old 
doctrine of the Resurrection is unscientific; but all such 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 147 

loud sounding, unproved and unprovable assertions 
amount to nothing. Science is totally ignorant of how 
God works in the world unseen, as it is ignorant also of 
the processes of life which we see before our eyes every 
day. It is futile and foolish to claim that God cannot 
create a new body at the hour of the Resurrection, with 
which to clothe the spirit of man. While the new theol- 
ogy denies this old doctrine and refers to it as unscientific, 
that God should create a new body at the Resurrection 
hour, yet to them it is scientific for God to create a new 
body at the hour of death. Their reasoning on this mat- 
ter is that God can do this at the hour of death but he 
cannot do it at some future time. Shades of Gehenna! 
O the logic, the wisdom, the science of the new theology ! 
Say my friend, can you not furnish words sufficiently 
ironic to fully portray or describe the reasoning process 
of these scientific new theologians? Congratulations to 
the profound science of the new theology apostacy ! Men 
and women of the churches what are you going to do 
with it? 



148 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

Chapter IV 
THE JUDGMENT. 

We shall now take up the doctrine of the Judgment. 
The new theology approaches this doctrine as it does all 
matters relating to future things, not in a reverent atti- 
tude toward the Scriptures, to find out what they teach, 
but in a speculative sort of way, using the Scriptures 
only in an accommodating sense. 

We have seen in our study thus far one fact that stands 
out prominent in the point of view of the modern apos- 
tacy, that is, it is consistent throughout with the evolu- 
tionary hypothesis. This philosophy is their working 
principle, their guiding star, hence every Scripture that 
appears to be opposed to this principle must be brushed 
aside, or explained away, or if need be, discredited. For 
example, if this type of religious thinker finds twenty 
passages in the Scriptures that teach the very opposite 
of that which he believes, and only one passage that 
seems to favor his philosophy, he will ignore the twenty, 
however plain they may be, and work his questionable 
passage assiduously, in order to help bolster up his 
teachings. We are furnished with a striking illustration 
of this teaching of the new theology regarding one of 
the Judgments, and which we shall take up presently. 

Treating the Bible in this subversive manner, and using 
it only as an aid to defend a certain philosophy is the 
shame and crime of the speculative new theology. In 
the adoption of any such method of interpretation reason 
is always made supreme, philosophy the indispensible 
thing, and divine revelation of secondary value. If we 
keep this in mind we shall understand why men of learn- 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 149 

ing, ability, and apparently devout spirit, can teach as 
they do regarding, for example, the Coming of Christ, 
the Resurrection, and the Judgments. With this in mind, 
it is easy to understand why these teachers say, Jesus 
Christ comes at death, the Resurrection occurs at death, 
the final Judgment takes place at death. 

DIFFICULTIES REMOVED? 

Of course this method of interpretation removes a 
number of difficulties relative to the facts or doctrines 
referred to. Adopting the philosophy of evolution sim- 
plifies the study. For instance, the preacher and teacher 
need not now bother about the intermediate state of man 
between death and the Resurrection, for to him there is 
no such state. And he does not need to think of a mil- 
lenium for to him there is no millenium. To believe in 
a millenium, as the New Testament teaches, would be 
to oppose the principle of evolution, which principle 
allows for only a gradual development of the human race, 
with no sudden changes. Introducing a millenium sud- 
denly would necessitate an abrupt change, as would the 
second Coming of Christ, the Resurrection, and the Judg- 
ment, and of course such could not be tolerated. How 
smoothly this whole method works for the new theology 
evolutionist. Away old intermediary state, away the 
Coming of Christ in the heavens, away false Resurrection 
hope, away old sensational Judgment Day, away all such 
childish and unscientific notions, for they are out of 
harmony with the philosophy of evolution ! Isn't it sane, 
simple, practicable, scientific! "He that sitteth in the 
heavens shall laugh ; the Lord will have them in derision" 
(Ps. 2:4). 

10 



150 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

DOES THE JUDGMENT TAKE PLACE AT DEATH? 

Now, let us look closely into the teaching of the new 
theology relative to the Judgment. This teaching places 
the Judgment at death. Dr. Clark states: "It is certain 
that one judgment occurs for every human being in the 
passage from this life to another" (Ch. Theo. Page 414). 
Note, this theologian says : "It is certain." We wonder 
how he knew? He did not tell us. But we are not so 
sure about it. In fact there is a big question mark in 
our thought about the Judgment taking place at death. 
The new apostacy has no place in its speculative theol- 
ogy for any judgment after death, at some later time. 
We have the same difficulty in accepting this view we 
have in accepting any of the new theology point of view, 
and that is, the Bible is not only silent as to it, but the 
teaching of the Scriptures is opposed to it, that is our 
trouble. The Bible states one thing, and the new the- 
ology states the opposite. That is our trouble. We can- 
not harmonize the grand Old Book and the speculative 
theology. Perhaps some day we will be able to do this, 
when we get more light, when we shall have drunk to our 
minds content of the wisdom of the modern school; but 
in our present state of ignorance we cannot harmonize 
the modern rationalism with Christ and Paul. Perhaps 
the latter are out of date, who knows, and that the new 
theology lights are correct? 

But let us get down to sense : There is one passage on 
which Dr. Clark bases his doctrine of judgment at death. 
Here it is: "And as it is ordained for men to die but 
once (death being followed by judgment)" etc. (Heb. 
9:27). This passage does not say that judgment occurs 
immediately at death, but it does teach that man goes 
into another world in which the next great event for him 
will be the judgment of God. By any fair interpretation 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 151 

this is the only possible meaning of these words. And 
this is in harmony with the other passages which throw 
much light on this matter. Let us examine a few of 
these and see what they say. What does our Lord say 
on this question of Judgment? The new theology advo- 
cates are quick to assert that Jesus Christ is a higher 
authority than Paul. We are assuming that Paul wrote 
the above passage. Does the great Day of Judgment 
for man occur at death? Jesus answers: "At the Judg- 
ment the men of Ninevah will stand up with this genera- 
tion and will condemn it." And again, "At the Judg- 
ment the Queen of the South will rise up with the present 
generation, and will condemn it" (Matt. 12: 41-42). 
Again, our Lord declares : — "I will tell, the doom of the 
land of Sodom and Gomorrha will be more tolerable in 
the Day of Judgment than the doom of that town" (Matt. 
10:15). The Queen of the South lived nearly 1,000 years 
before Christ but she had not been judged. The Ninev- 
ites lived many hundreds of years before Jesus spoke 
these words, but they had not yet been judged. The peo- 
ple of Sodom and Gomorrha lived nearly 2,000 years 
prior to Christ's time, but they had not yet entered into 
the Day of Judgment. We could not imagine our Lord 
using these words had all those people been judged at 
the time of their departure from this world. 

PETER'S REVELATION. 

The Apostle Peter in writing on this same question 
of the Judgment says, in referring to the people of 
Sodom and Gomorrha, "Who are even now suffering 
punishment in readiness for the Day of Judgment" (2nd 
Peter 2:9). Here we have not only a special Day of 
Judgment brought to light, but we have an intermediate 
state between death and the Judgment, revealed also, that 



152 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

state which the new theology has ruled out. From all 
these passages and others which might be submitted, the 
following facts are in evidence: 

1. The Judgment does not occur at death (Matt. 
10:15; Matt. 12: 41-42). 

2. Judgment will occur at some fixed day in the 
future (Acts 17:31). 

3. The Judgment will occur simultaneously for 
the righteous (1st Thes. 4:17). 

4. There is an intermediate state for man be- 
tween death and the Judgment (2nd Pet. 2:9; Luke 
16: 23-31). 

5. For the righteous the intermediate state is Para- 
dise, for the wicked it is Tartarus (Luke 23 :43 ; 2nd 
Pet. 2:4). 

6. There is a separate Judgment for the wicked, 
called the Judgment of the great white throne (Rev. 
20: 11-12). 

In the Scriptures a variety of names are given to the 
Judgment, as — 

"The great Day of their Wrath" (Rev. 5:15). 
"Judgment of the Great Day" (Jude. 1:6). 
"Day of Judgment" (2nd Pet. 2:9). 
"Day of The Lord" (2nd Pet. 2:10). 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 153 

Chapter V 

THE MESSAGE OF THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH. 

We shall conclude this study by an examination of the 
character of the gospel message of the first century. 
What was the message of the Apostles in those stirring 
times? It can be summed up in these words : "They were 
teaching the people . . . preaching through Jesus 
the resurrection of the dead" (Acts. 4:2). Their mes- 
sage was, "Christ died for our sins" (1st Corn. 15:3). 
"He was raised" (15 :4), "and the dead will rise Immotral" 
(15:52). "He is coming among the clouds" (Rev. 1:7). 
"God — has fixed a Day when he will judge the world 
in justice" (Acts 17:31. "His Kingdom will finally 
triumph in earth and heaven" (Rev. 11:15). 

PAUL'S PREACHING IRRESISTIBLE. 

On the basis of such preaching do we wonder, that 
men were convicted of sin and converted to Jesus Christ 
as Saviour and Lord? Felix trembled as did multitudes 
beside, his flesh quivered, his face turned pale, his bones 
shook in their sockets, as Paul preached to him of 
holiness and the Judgment. Repentance, and con- 
fession of Christ by baptism, the Resurrection, the Com- 
ing Christ, the Judgment, were the burden of the apos- 
tolic ministry. They had no other message. They needed 
no other. What in the universe is like this? God worked 
miracles in those great revival days in honor of the men 
who preached this gospel and the Christ who made it 
possible. Would He work miracles today if the clergy 
should come back to the fundamentals of the Faith? 



154 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

The Holy Spirit is always present to work miracles of 
grace, to convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment, 
when the gospel is proclaimed. He never works apart 
from the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

We have a striking illustration of the power of this 
message as Paul preached it on Mars Hill. His meeting 
house was the Court room, his audience was made up 
of the cultured scholars of Athens. What did Paul 
preach? After a tactful introduction on Creation, he 
plunged into his real message, on Jesus Christ, the Resur- 
rection, and the Judgment. It was a new, strange and 
startling message, but not much more strange than it 
would be were it preached today in many of the Ameri- 
can pulpits. Those Grecian rationalists listened to Paul 
courteously, until he got into a discussion of the Resur- 
rection and the Judgment, then the scholars became rest- 
less, waxed hot at Paul, created an uproar, and broke up 
the meeting. Exit Paul ! What a tribute to Paul ! And 
what a tribute it would be to a new theology preacher 
if he should renounce his errors and preach the true 
gospel and create a similar uproar in his slumbering 
congregation, where such startling doctrines are not 
heard? 

But what was the result of this sermon? "Paul was 
forced to leave the Court." Some of our preachers today 
would leave their pulpits if they preached the whole 
gospel. And what then? There were, however, some 
who joined him, and became believers in Christ. "Among 
them were Dionysius, a member of the Court (possibly a 
lawyer or a judge), a woman named Demaris, and sev- 
eral others." A respectable revival from the preaching 
of the "old fogy" doctrines, more real conversions than 
some of our brethren have today as result of years of 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 155 

preaching of moral platitudes, over the divinity of human 
nature, the religious base in the modern sinner. Diony- 
sius, we are told by Eusebius, "became the first Bishop 
of Athens and suffered martyrdom." You see this ser- 
mon on the "old worn out doctrines," produced a church, 
and a diocese and a Bishop. Talk about results! Great 
stars! Can't men read history? The Roman Empire 
gives eloquent testimony to the result of preaching Jesus, 
the Resurrection, and the Judgment. That mighty Em- 
pire reeled on her foundations, was gripped by the power 
of the living Christ, burned her idols, and lay a captive at 
the pierced feet of the King of Kings. It is true that 
most of these grand preachers suffered death as martyrs, 
but that also was a token of the power of the gospel. 

OUR DUTY CLEAR. 

Men and women of the modern church, we appeal to 
you. Is the church benighted, cursed by the curse of 
our modern apostacy, blinded by a false gospel, a false 
science, then let the church arise from her spiritual death 
embrace and declare the true gospel and Christ will give 
her light! The new theology is impotent, utterly futile, 
worthless, and more, it is an abomination, it has been 
weighed in the balances and found wanting. It cannot 
win souls to Christ. And it cannot lead back the churches 
it has enslaved, back again to the feet of the Master. The 
orthodox leaders, those who truly know and love the 
word of God, must do this work, or with the modern 
apostates our doom will be that of the Church of Per- 
gamus — we shall dwell where the throne of Satan 
stands." (Rev. 2:13). 



156 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

DR. W. N. CLARK'S NEW THEOLOGY AND 
RUSSELISM COMPARED. 

Russell — The body of Jesus was not raised up. 

Clark — The bodies of men will not be raised up. 

Russell — The second Advent of our Lord occurred in 
1874. 

Clark — The Second Advent occurred at the destruction 
of Jerusalem in 70 A. D., also at Pentecost and is 
a perpetual occurrence. 

Russell — The final consummation of the age occurred 
in 1914. 

Clark — The final consummation occurs for each indivi- 
dual at death. 

Russell — The saints were raised up in 1878. 

Clark — The resurrection occurs at the hour of death. 

Russell — Christ has been back on the earth since 1874. 

Clark — Christ has been back since 33 A. D. 

Russell — We are now entering the millenium as seen by 
our rapid increase in wealth. 

Clark — There is no millenium. 

FAIR PRESENTATION. 

We have given a true statement of the new and the old 
theology points of view of the word of God as touching 
things to come. We have tried to be fair, temperate, 
to reveal the Master's spirit. We have been tempted 
to use words more harsh and denounciatory, but we leave 
those men with God, and pray for their deliverance from 
the power of Satan. What we have tried to do is to 
warn the churches, and the teachers in institutions of 
learning, of the insidious and destructive work of these 
men who have been poisoned by drinking at the fountain 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 157 

of German rationalism and infidelity, and who are giving 
out their false doctrines under the pretense of 
"scholarship," and who are leading astray the young 
men and women who attend our institutions. The 
business has become a sort of educational fad. You know 
our thought in this sensational country runs in fad-waves 
and many of our biggest faddists are in the ministry 
and in our educational institutions. It just seems to be 
their business to run off periodically, if not perpetually, 
on fad-tangets, speculative hobbies, salvation by educa- 
tion for example, infalliable hypotheses, the conclusions 
of the latest book by Rabbi So and So, etc. And the 
business seems to have become hypnotic, even some of 
the teachers of the high schools, normal schools, and in 
many of the public schools have become inoculated with 
the German germ of rationalism, "broad-mindedness," 
gas ! gas ! gas ! This germ has fooled not a few teachers 
and preachers, as well as thinkers in more humble walks. 
Methodism has got this disease so deeply seated that its 
case has become serious. The Baptists and Presbyterians 
are showing fatal symptoms. And the Y. M. C. A. is be- 
coming inoculated. The only hope for these backslidden 
and deluded Christians is back to Christ. He is still the 
great physician and can destroy this church killing, this 
Bible killing germ. Their only hope is to get back from 
Berlin, and Harvard, and Yale and Columbia and Syra- 
cuse and Chicago Universities, and all other universities 
where this false philosophy is taught, back to Christ. 

OBJECT IN WRITING BOOK? 

In conclusion, what is the object in giving these mes- 
sages? The object is to help the young men and women 
in our educational institutions to understand the false doc- 
trines that are being taught, so as to be able to meet them 



158 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 

on Bible grounds. The object is to try to get those men 
who teach the evolution humbug and the radical criticism 
of the word of God to stop and think, if perchance they 
might get their eyes open to see the fatal results of their 
work, and turn back to Jesus Christ. The object is to 
help our church people to understand the real situation, 
and to oppose the modern apostacy when they hear it 
in their own churches. The object is to impress the men 
and women who are the financial supporters of our edu- 
cational and religious institutions to ask the question: 
Can I not by withholding my support, and by personal 
influence, persuade the officers of these institutions to 
call a halt, and demand a change of the teaching staffs, 
and text books and reference books used in teaching, 
in short our object is to help bring about a revolution 
in the teaching in our institutions, both secular and 
religious. This then is our motive in giving these mes- 
sages. And we pray God's blessing upon them. 

JOY AND SORROW. 

The task in a sense has not been easy. If this 
were a campaign against infidelity as in past times, 
it would be child's play, but it's a campaign against 
the institutions we love. The foe is intrenched in- 
side the church of God. And this is what makes it dif- 
ficult to discuss these matters, because in so doing, we 
shall run the risk of alienating some of those who were 
friends, and who were once helpful to us in Christian 
work. Many of these will view us with pity, and some 
with contempt. They will say hard and untruthful things. 
They will denounce us as meddlers, busy-bodies, cranks, 
disturbing factors, unbalanced reasoners, not to be taken 
seriously, "unlearned, ignorant persons"; and they will, 
those of them who wield financial power) try to boycott 



IN SYNTHESIS AND COMPARISON 159 

our work, here and everywhere. They will work through 
secret societies against us. They will question our mo- 
tives if not attack our characters. But we have counted 
the cost; and we must be willing to suffer with Christ. 
To be true to Christ, we must strike this serpent, the 
new theology apostacy, and strike him hard. Let no one 
underestimate this satanic hydra-headed monster, the new 
theology apostacy, that is fighting against the true 
Church of Christ. Remember, the new theology apostacy 
is that spirit of anti-Christ which should come into the 
world. The goal toward which they are working is to 
get the Church universal to reject Jesus Christ as the 
Son of God. The battle today is being waged against 
Bible theology, ecclesiology, eschatology, and all ani- 
mated by the spirit of Satan, as they prosecute their 
warfare against Jesus Christ as the Incarnate Son of God. 
Men and women, you should join with us and with 
millions of others in America in opposition to this deadly 
evil. Will you vow before God and men, angels and 
devils, that you will stand with the true followers of 
Jesus everywhere, and "fight in defense of the Faith that 
has once for all been intrusted to the keeping of Christ's 
people?" (Jude 1 :3.) The word of our God shall stand. 
Amen and amen! 



FAITH OF OUR FATHERS: 

Faith of our fathers! living still, 
In spite of dungeon, fire and sword; 
O how our hearts beat high with joy, 



160 THE MODERN CONFLICT OVER THE BIBLE 



When e'er we hear that glorious word ; 
Faith of our fathers! holy faith! 
We will be true to thee till death! 

Our fathers chained in prison dark 
Were still in heart and conscience free, 
How sweet would be their children's fate, 
If they like them could die for thee. 
Faith of our fathers! holy faith! 
We will be true to thee till death ! 

Faith of our fathers ! We will love, 
Both friend and foe in all our strife; 
And preach thee too as love knows how, 
By kindly words and virtuous life ; 
Faith of our fathers ! holy faith ! 
We will be true to thee till death. 



PRAYER. 

Almighty God our Father, we thy redeemed people 
unitedly pray that thou woulds't stay the power of Satan, 
and in these latter days give victory to thy Truth. Help 
thy true Church to preach the Gospel, to win the perish- 
ing, to shut their ears to the satanic inducements of the 
new apostasy, and to withhold from it their gifts and 
personal support, to love truly, labor faithfully, and watch 
daily for the return of our glorified Lord. Hear this our 
cry, O righteous Father, for the sake of Jesus Christ thy 
Son, our adorable Saviour, Amen. 

"Come Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus 
Christ be with you all," who have read this book. Amen 
and Amen. 



STIRRING BOOKS 

BY 

REV. G. W. McPHERSON 

(Supt. The Tent Evangel Evangelistic Committee 
New York City) 

Permanent address : 34 St. Andrew's PI., Yonkers, N. Y. 



THE BOOKS IN THIS SERIES ARE: 

No. 1. The New Theology Under Fire. 

(Second edition, enlarged). Price. . . .25 cents 

No. 2. Can God Inspire a Book; or Does He 
Inspire Only Men? (Second edition, 
enlarged). Price 25 cents 

No. 3. New and Old Theology and the Cross. 

Price 15 cents 

No. 4. New and Old Theology and Escha- 

tology, or Things to Come. Price .... 25 cents 

No. 5. The Modern Conflict Over the Bible, in 
Synthesis and Comparison. 164 pages. 
Price 50 cents 

The above series, Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4, are comprised in 
volume No. 5 in a compact and attractive form. 



All orders should be addressed to the Author at 
above address. 



OTHER STIRRING BOOKS 

BY 

rev. g. w. Mcpherson 



"Evangelism In Cities." Price 25 cts. 

"Money and Progress." Price 15 cts. 

"The Failure of Socialism." Price 15 cts. 

"The Attitude of Jesus to Social Problems." Price .15 cts. 

"Christ and the American Dollar." Price 25 cts. 

"The Hoarding Habit." Price 15 cts. 

"Washington, Our Greatest Hero." Price 10 cts. 

These books are printed in strong, large type, and 
under tasty, colored covers. They have had a large sale 
and are the books for these stirring times. 



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